The Brooklyn Nets were fined $100,000 for a violation of the NBA’s new Player Participation Policy. The NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations, Joe Dumars, explained he was investigating the Nets vs. Bucks game on December 27, where the Nets sat out multiple starters.

In the Nets’ 144-122 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on December 27, the team sat out Nic Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson, and Spencer Dinwiddie. The team also held out Cam Thomas, Royce O’Neale, and Mikal Bridges after the first quarter.

Bridges was outspoken about his benching, telling the New York Post, “Didn’t like the choice and whatever that was. But it’s whatever. Definitely was not a fan.”

Nets coach Jacque Vaughn defended his decision to bench multiple starters. He told reporters after the game, “Any guy could’ve ended their career tonight by one play. I treat it as such.”

The Nets have dealt with a multitude of injuries this season, including missing key players for extended periods. The status of Ben Simmons and Lonnie Walker IV seems to still be up in the air.

The Player Participation Policy was a new policy for the 2023-2024 season to ensure star players are not missing extended stretches or nationally televised games due to rest.

The policy states:

The Player Participation Policy primarily will focus on star players. A star player for purposes of the policy is any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was selected to an All-NBA Team or an NBA All-Star team. This definition also applies, following a given season’s All-Star Game, to any player who is named an All-Star during that season.

Although none of the Nets who were held out in the December 27th game fell under this criteria, the NBA deemed the players who didn’t participate because of injury could have.

The Nets are struggling mightily right now. The team has found themselves in their second five-game losing streak in their last 12 games and are 4-11 in their last 15 games.

The team’s defense continues to sputter despite having one of the best perimeter defenders and rim protectors in Bridges and Claxton, respectively. They have fallen all the way to 23rd in defensive rating and 22nd in net rating at -1.8.