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The NBA regular season is set to finish on Sunday, but dozens of players appear to be wrapped up a bit early.
In fact, 168 total players sat out of action on Friday night due to either a listed injury or illness.
Among those 168 players were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, each of the last two MVPs, whose teams faced off against one another.
Reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, whom Gilgeous-Alexander plays for, said his stars “earned the right to sit,” considering they again snagged the top seed in the Western Conference.
“If we didn’t clinch [the No. 1 overall seed] coming into tonight, everybody would be playing,” Daigneault told reporters ahead of their game against Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, via ESPN. “We’ve earned the right through 80 games to manage their bodies and stuff like that.”
Stars to take the floor on Friday include LeBron James amid his Los Angeles Lakers’ injury woes and Victor Wembanyama, who needed to play 20 minutes to be eligible for season awards and admitted he would not have played if he had already met the criteria. Jokic must play Sunday if he wants to be considered for awards.
NBA HITS ORLANDO MAGIC WITH HEFTY FINE AFTER TEAM FAILED TO ACCURATELY DISCLOSE PLAYER’S AVAILABILITY
With the new wave of load management, another form of today’s basketball was on display, as the Boston Celtics made 29 3-pointers, tying an NBA record, against the New Orleans Pelicans. It was the fourth time in the history of the NBA that this had been accomplished, but the last time it was done, you only have to go back to Monday, when the Memphis Grizzlies did it.
On April 3, the NBA saw just the second time in history that a slate of at least nine games had an average margin of victory of at least 24 points. The first time was five days prior.
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All 30 NBA teams played in their 81st games on Friday and will play in their 82nd and final game of the regular season Sunday.
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