Charles Barkley mocks NBA for season extension, rest

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich rested his players a handful of times these past few seasons. Some have a problem with this, in general, for the NBA, including Charles Barkley.

As noted, NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to discipline teams for resting players. Given San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s tendency to rest his stars and older players, this could impact the team, if a rule is made.

To try to get teams to stop resting players, the NBA reduced the amount of back-to-back games for the 2017-18 season. National TV games were affected by teams resting players last season, so those got spread out on the schedule. The season was also extended. NBA legend Charley Barkley recently took issue with this.

Barkley, known for outspoken comments in his post-NBA career, called out the league for the change to its schedule, according to Eddie Sefko of MavsBlog.DallasNews.com (h/t CBS Sports). He called them “poor babies” for how they “can’t play back-to-back games.”

Charles Barkley on extending season: "“I want to commend the NBA. You know, these poor babies can’t play back-to-back games." (cont).

— Eddie Sefko (@ESefko) September 20, 2017

Barkley continued: "Making $30-, $40-million a year. But we want to make it convenient for them … At $40M a year, we can’t stress ‘em out"

— Eddie Sefko (@ESefko) September 20, 2017

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These comments from Barkley won’t go unnoticed, but it’s the direction the league is headed. It should be to maintain strong revenue and keep fans interested in the games. With players sitting out the biggest of games in the regular season, like a Spurs vs. Cleveland Cavaliers game, it takes the allure out of the spectacle. What becomes of this when Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, LeBron James and Kevin Love all get rested?

Maybe the NBA will find an alternative to work around this in the future. It depends on Silver’s planned discipline for teams that rest players, and if his idea gets accepted. Either way, it will make for an intriguing storyline as the 2017-18 season progresses.

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Do you agree with Barkley’s comments? If a rest rule is made, do you expect Popovich to follow it or have the team accept the punishment?