The Warriors will be among the teams most affected by the NBA's new rest management policy aimed at correcting the widespread usage of load management in recent seasons.
Among the new rules, teams will be penalized for resting multiple star players on the same night for non-injury reasons. Golden State is tied for the league lead with four players -- Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Chris Paul -- who fall under the league's "star" criteria, defined by players who have made the All-Star or All-NBA teams in the last three seasons.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is confident these changes won't disrupt how he plans to delegate the workload between his star players.
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"I don't think it will impact anything," Kerr said. " I think we have a great relationship with the league and a great respect for the rules that are in place. We understand we are trying to entertain basketball fans everywhere. That's the business. You know, putting on a good product, putting on a good show for our fans, and giving our fans the opportunity to come out and see our guys play.
"You know, injuries are a part of the game, and there are going to be games where guys are going to miss, but we plan on complying with the league's rules and giving NBA fans everywhere as much opportunity to see our guys as possible."
General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. echoed something similar when he was asked about the new policy.
"Yeah, I mean, certainly the parameters are based around a lot of our stuff in terms of back-to-backs, national TV games, and having four players that sort of qualify under the load management rest policy," Dunleavy Jr. said.
Golden State Warriors
"You know, look, the league makes the rules. We'll play by them. That's the best I can say. I do know that we have a tremendous amount of data and science and input from our players in terms of how much they should be playing and how much they shouldn't be playing, and we've always leaned on that in the past; we'll continue to lean on it. But we've got to play by the rules, too."
Restricting the load management of older players like Curry, Green, and Paul -- who all are in their mid-to-late 30s -- will be something to keep an eye on over the course of an 82-game season.
For now, it appears to be business as usual with the Warriors gearing up for another championship run.