Wizards owner Leonsis says NBA teams shouldn't sit star players in big games
Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis says he supports and empathizes with Commissioner Adam Silver's recent comments about the importance of addressing NBA teams that are sitting their star players in order to rest them.
More and more teams are choosing to rest their star players in favor of saving their energy for the playoffs. As a result, fans are upset and TV networks are crying foul.
Speaking to CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime Report" at The Sports Business Summit, Leonsis says creating a rule to address this is a slippery slope.
"If a player is hurt or player is banged up, he should be able to sit out," he said. "However,
when you sit out three players, arbitrarily in the game of the week, that's probably inappropriate."
The Wizards owner says he even called the Commissioner and told him if he puts his team on TV, he will make sure they show up.
"It's an honor to play on national TV and teams should respect that. Networks paid a lot of money for the programming and they want to drive ratings," he said. "They deserve to have the best product and best players out there," he added.
In a memo obtained by ESPN, Silver reportedly informed teams that the issue will be front and center at their next board of governors meeting on April 6.