The Hawks have been fined $100K by the NBA for violating the league’s player participation policy, the league announced in a press release (Twitter link).
According to the announcement, the fine is related to Trae Young missing Atlanta’s NBA Cup game on November 12 against Boston. It was the only game he has missed so far this season — he was listed as out due to right Achilles tendinitis.
The league conducted an investigation into Young’s absence and determined, following a review by an independent physician, that the Hawks guard could have played in the game under the policy’s medical standard. As a result, Atlanta was deemed to have violated the policy, resulting in a $100K penalty for a first-time offense.
As Brad Rowland of Locked on Hawks explains (via Twitter), Young’s injury is real, but he has been dealing with it for much of the season and the NBA determined that he could have played through it on Nov. 12 after having two days off. It probably didn’t help the Hawks’ case, Rowland notes, that Young wasn’t listed on the injury report for Atlanta’s next game.
We discussed the player participation policy at length earlier today in the latest entry in the Hoops Rumors glossary. The policy, which was introduced at the start of the 2023/24 season, is intended to promote player participation in regular season games.
As we detailed in that article, a league investigation is triggered when a player considered a “star” misses a nationally televised or NBA Cup game without an approved reason. Young is one of 49 players across the league who currently meet the “star” criteria because he has made an All-Star or All-NBA team within the past three seasons.
The player participation policy calls for a $100K fine for the first violation and a $250K fine for the second infraction, so the Hawks would face a more substantial penalty if they run afoul of the policy again this season.