In his 18-year NBA career, Karl Malone played less than 80 games just twice: Once during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season (he played in 49 out of 50 games) and once during his final season as a 40-year-old Laker. Unsurprisingly, Malone is not a fan of current NBA stars sitting out games, telling ESPN that the players should “get your ass playing.”
(1/2) HOF'er Karl Malone: "if you don't have at least 10 yrs experience, get your a** playing. It's not work, it's called playing. Besides..
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) March 19, 2017
(2/2) "…tell our underpaid service members & police & first responders to rest. Dammit, they can't"
— Sage Steele (@sagesteele) March 19, 2017
During last night’s Los Angeles Clippers-Cleveland Cavaliers game, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all sat and the Clippers got an easy 108-78 win at home. Following the game, Doc Rivers said that it’s “not cool” for fans to pay money and not get a chance to see teams play at full strength.
From the New York Daily News:
“There is a fan base that probably bought tickets tonight to see LeBron James play for the first time,” Rivers said. “They didn’t get a chance to see that, and that’s not cool.”
Jeff Van Gundy, who has been vocal about the disrespect fans may feel when star players rest, was on the offensive last night and said that the decision to rest the players should be a “prosecutable offense:”
The folks at ABC aren't too happy about the Cavs sitting LeBron, Kyrie + Love tonight. pic.twitter.com/jeaho7Bjzq
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) March 19, 2017
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