In recent years, especially on the heels of two abbreviated campaigns, discussions about potentially shortening the NBA regular season have swelled. Preservation of player health has assumed a grander talking point in the modern age. Whether it comes to fruition is unclear at the moment, but it’s certainly on the minds of those around the league more than ever before.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith took exception to the notion under the belief that shortening the season would be “appeasing” players. On Monday’s episode of “First Take,” New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum explained in-depth as to why Smith’s argument is off-base. McCollum is president of the NBPA and offered insightful commentary about the process of potentially shortening the NBA’s regular season.
“My job is to do what’s best for the players, to protect the better interests of the players, while also protecting the integrity of the game. … There’s a rule of thumb here: You have to adapt or you die,” McCollum said. “The way the game is played has evolved. The TV licensing deals have evolved.
“What we have to address and figure out is what’s best for the game. Obviously, there’s financial implications. There’s a revenue situation that we have to figure out,” he continued. “What’s best for the governors, what’s best for the players, and what’s the happy medium. But to say this rule is appeasing the players is blasphemy because there’s a lot of players that just wanna play 82 games. They wanna protect the identity of the league, the history of the league.”
For the final point of his elaborate, informative, three-minute monologue, McCollum addressed the “misconception” that healthy players “choose to sit out games,” calling Smith’s suggesting “blasphemy.” Rather, that’s a decision generally coming from each team’s training staff to protect these players’ bodies, with JJ Redick adding that many players try to push against designated rest days.
McCollum even offered an example of how in Portland prior to the season the staff would sit down with he and Damian Lillard and have them pick “designated rest days” on back-to-backs, four games in five night stretches, and other portions of the schedule with a heavy workload, but once those games arrived, he and Lillard would simply tell the team they were playing and refuse to sit out.
That got Stephen A., unsurprisingly, irked at the notion that he said something blasphemous (which is usually his line) and McCollum seemed very proud of himself for getting Smith riled up, taking a big swig from his coffee mug as Stephen A. hurriedly tried to offer a final response in the final 90 seconds of the segment.