168 Players Sat Out on Friday Night — The NBA Rest Epidemic Hit Peak Absurdity

On the second-to-last night of the NBA regular season, at least 168 players — roughly a third of the entire league — were held out because of injuries or illness. The Memphis Grizzlies alone sat 14 players. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Out. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic? Out. Every OKC starter? Out.

This is what happens when 30 teams all play on the same night with nothing left to prove and everything to protect. It's load management cranked up to 11. The league spent years implementing the 65-game rule to stop exactly this, and players responded by playing their 65 games and sitting the rest.

Friday night was an exhibition game disguised as regular season basketball. The fans who paid for tickets got G-League rosters. The teams that still had something to fight for — like the Wolves, who snapped Houston's 8-game streak 136-132 — were the exception, not the rule.