Cavaliers fined $100K for violating player participation policy

The NBA has fined the Cavaliers $100K for violating the league’s player participation policy, the league announced on Tuesday in a press release.

The violation occurred last Wednesday, Nov. 12, when the Cavaliers sat both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley for rest during the first game of a back-to-back set. The Cavs played in Miami that night before heading home to host the Raptors on Thursday.

The NBA’s player participation policy was modified ahead of the 2023-24 season to reduce instances of teams holding out star players during the regular season. Under the policy, the NBA defines a star as a player who has been named to an All-Star or All-NBA team in the past three seasons. Both Mitchell and Mobley meet that criteria.

Although teams are permitted to rest those star players under certain circumstances, an investigation is automatically triggered any time a team rests more than one healthy star in the same game. Cleveland likely would have avoided a fine if it had held out Mitchell on Wednesday and Mobley on Thursday, or vice versa.

A team violating the player participation policy for the first time is fined $100K. A second violation would cost the Cavs $250K.