Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson reacted strongly to the NBA fining Cleveland $100K for violating the league’s participant participation coverage, in accordance with Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
The penalty stemmed from the Cavs resting Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley final Wednesday, each of whom qualify as “stars” underneath the foundations.
Atkinson defended the choice, emphasizing that the crew’s precedence was participant well being.
“I feel my primary job is to proceed to guard the well being of our gamers,” Atkinson stated.
“So [it’s] type of that easy. I feel that Miami recreation, we got here house at 3:30 within the morning, so it’s important to anticipate generally too, what the schedule appears like. We’ve these discussions, we make choices. I’ll rock with that call.”
He additionally expressed frustration that the high quality neglected the efficiency of the gamers who did go well with up. “We win that recreation too,” Atkinson stated.
“So, to me, you throw that on high of it and it’s like, wait a second, are you discrediting the fellows that performed that evening? … We helped develop guys and we gained the sport after which we get penalized for it.”
Kenny Atkinson responds to the NBA fining the Cavs $100K for resting gamers, plus extra notes from across the Central: https://t.co/G4fnmwqxy9
— Hoops Rumors (@HoopsRumors) November 20, 2025
