Darius Garland #10 of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the game against the San Antonio Spurs on February 9, 2022 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. David Liam Kyle, NBAE via Getty Images/AFP/File
NEW YORK -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have been fined $250,000 for resting All-Star guard Darius Garland for a nationally televised game in November, in violation of NBA policy, the league said Thursday.
The league said that Garland, considered a "star player" under the player participation policy, was able to play in one of two games of the team's back-to-back on November 23 and 24.
"The violation occurred when the Cavaliers failed to make Garland available for the team's nationally-televised game on November 24 and instead made him available on November 23 which was not a nationally-televised game," the NBA said in a statement.
It is the second time this season that the Cavaliers have been fined for violating the player participation policy.
They were fined $100,000 for resting Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley for a November game against Miami.
The NBA adopted the player participation policy before the 2023-24 campaign to limit when teams benched uninjured players for rest during regular-season games in a bid to boost participation by star talent in major contests.