Nets fined $100k for violating participation policy

The league has fined the Nets $100K for violating its player participation policy, NBA Communications tweets.

Brooklyn’s staff held out starters Cameron Johnson, Nic Claxton, and Spencer Dinwiddie against Milwaukee on Dec. 27 in the second game of a back-to-back set after all three played the previous night. Johnson and Claxton were listed as out due to “injury maintenance,” while Dinwiddie was simply listed as out due to “rest.”

Brooklyn also didn’t use Mikal Bridges, Royce O’Neale, or Cam Thomas after the first quarter. The move irked Bridges, who said after the game that he would’ve been fine handling his usual workload and pushing harder for a victory.

The league launched an investigation, including review by an independent physician, and determined that four Nets rotation players, who did not participate in the game, could have played under the medical standard of the policy. The league did not specify the four players.

The participation rules were adopted prior to this season under the new CBA. It was designed to discourage load management. This is the first fine levied by the league under the new policy, Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press tweets.

As an interesting side note, half of the fine will go to the NBA Players Association under the terms of the CBA, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.