The NBA Board of Governors voted unanimously to update their rules regarding "star players" who sit out games, and with the new policy taking affect, it will impact two Hawks starters, Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.
The Player Participation Policy seems to give the league office control over both discipline and possible fines if teams violate the resting rules. It also defined what the league determines as a "star" as any player who has been an All Star or was on an All NBA team in the past three seasons.
The new definition affects 49 different players across the league including Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, both of whom were All Stars in 2022. The Hawks stars led the team in stars in the 2022-2023 season as Dejounte Murray started in 74 of the teams 82 games and Trae Young started 73 of the 82 regular season games.
The rule will specifically affect games in which the team is on national TV and games that are part of the NBA's new in-season tournament, and currently would impact 19 games for the Atlanta Hawks this season.
The Hawks have 4 scheduled in-season tournament games in November and, counting NBA TV games along with other networks, are currently scheduled for 15 nationally televised games.