The Cleveland Cavaliers were fined $100,000 for sitting All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley on Nov. 12 against the Miami Heat. According to the NBA, Cleveland violated the league’s Player Participation Policy. Both Mitchell and Mobley are considered stars under The Policy. They weren’t injured, and the team opted to sit them out for rest.
Although the Cavs secured the 130-116 win, the league did not agree with the team’s decision to sit out Mitchell and Mobley. Following the fine, head coach Kenny Atkinson fired back at the NBA on Wednesday. According to Atkinson, he doesn’t agree with the fine.
“I gotta look at the Cavs’ best interest. … And I will say, we won that game too,” the Cavaliers’ coach said. “So like, to me, you throw that on top of it, and it’s like, wait a second? Are you discrediting the guys that played that night? We’re in a competitive environment here… on top of it, we helped develop guys and we won the game, and then we get penalized for it…. that doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Part of my job is to keep these guys on the court, and it’s become, I think, a bigger part of the job,” Atkinson said. “There’s definitely conclusive data at the intensity is higher… our sports science guys are saying it’s like baseball, everyone’s trying to be so efficient in what we do, which is our job, every pitcher is trying to throw 100, and when you look for efficiency sometimes you just got to do it intelligently.”
Cleveland is tied in second place in the East with the Toronto Raptors with a 10-5 record. Last season, they were dominant, and the same can be said of their group this year.
Cade Cunningham reveals honest thoughts on getting drafted by the Cavaliers
Cade Cunningham has flourished as one of the best players in the NBA. Back in 2021, there was a good chance that he would’ve been a part of the Cavaliers’ organization. However, the Detroit Pistons used their No. 1 pick to draft Cunningham, while Cleveland drafted Mobley with the No. 3 pick.
During his time talking with Kevin Durant on “Boardroom“, the one-time All-Star revealed that he didn’t want to play for the Cavs. Despite being a fan of LeBron James, who’s arguably the best player in franchise history, Cunningham wanted to play in Detroit.
“Whenever the lottery was happening, and it started cutting down… It’s the final three. It’s Cleveland, Houston, and Detroit. I’m like, ‘Don’t let me go to Cleveland,’” he told Durant.
“I was a big Bron fan growing up, you know what I’m saying?” he added. “But I’m not trying to go to Cleveland, bro.”
Things ended up the way he planned, and he is now making a name for himself with the Pistons.
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
