President Donald Trump’s comments and tweets about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem – and the league’s response, from owners to players – has dominated headlines since last weekend. They have also led to plenty of discussion about what, if anything, NBA players will do during the anthem when preseason games begin this weekend, or when the regular season begins in less than three weeks.
There is one significant difference, however, between the two leagues: the NFL has no rule about what players should do during the anthem. The NBA does.
“We have a rule that requires our players to stand for the anthem,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at his news conference following the conclusion of this week’s Board of Governors meetings in New York. “It’s been our rule for as long as I’ve been involved with the league, and my expectation is that our players will continue to stand for the anthem.”
The rule, which states players, coaches and trainers “should remain reasonably still, stand tall in a straight and orderly line, and act in a respectful manner through the period,” was enacted decades ago and was originally meant as nothing more than to ensure players weren’t shooting around or stretching while the anthem was being played before a game.
But now, in the age of Trump, enforcing the rule could come in a very different context.
Earlier this week, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry said he and his teammates still hadn’t decided if they would do anything during the anthem. The Warriors, who were disinvited from the traditional White House visit league champions make via a Trump tweet last Saturday – an invitation they likely would have turned down if given the chance – play in the first preseason game of the year Saturday evening when they host the Denver Nuggets in Oakland.
When Silver was asked directly what would happen if a player chose to kneel or undertake some other form of protest during the anthem, he said, “If that were to happen, we’ll deal with it when it happens.”
The league’s operations manual states: “Violations of these rules will subject the team, player and/or the relevant team personnel to appropriate action.” In other words, wide latitude is given to the league office to levy discipline in such a matter – and it’s hard to see how the NBA would want to wade into a cultural fight with its players, if they chose to do so, with heavy penalties.
Still, Silver made it clear on multiple occasions Thursday how he preferred the players would handle the situation.
“It’s my hope our players will continue to use that as a moment of unity,” Silver said. “For example, many of our teams locked arms during the anthem, which I felt was a respectful show of unity. Many of our players have spoken out already about their plan to stand during the anthem, and I think they understand how divisive an issue it is in our society right now.”
The discussion about the anthem overshadowed several changes the league made during its annual preseason gathering. The most significant were changes in the draft lottery format, which will be enacted for the 2018-19 season, and for the rules governing resting players, which will go into effect this season.
Both changes were widely expected to pass, thanks to backing from the league office, and did so easily.
On lottery reform, the league flattened out the odds at the top – giving the three teams with the worst records each a 14 percent chance of winning the top pick. Previously, the team with the worst record had a 25 percent chance at the top pick.
By improving the odds of other teams – and by increasing the number of lottery drawing spots from three to four – the league’s goal is to eliminate “tanking,” the practice of franchises trying to lose as many games as possible to secure the highest possible draft pick.
The topic of resting players came to a head last season when multiple nationally televised games – specifically one featuring the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, and another between the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers – were left with most, or all, of the stars on both teams sitting out.
The NBA largely addressed that issue by changing the schedule this season, adding a week to the regular season and building in rest days around the national TV games in the schedule. But now if teams choose to rest players for a national TV game they can be subject to a $100,000 fine. In addition, teams that choose to actively rest healthy players for large stretches of the season – like the Phoenix Suns did last year with guard Eric Bledsoe – could also face league discipline.