Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy

The Atlanta Hawks have been fined $100,000 for holding star guard Trae Young out of an NBA Cup game that he could have participated in, a violation of the league's player participation policy (PPP), the league announced Tuesday. 

On Nov. 12, Young missed the Hawks' game against the Boston Celtics -- a 117-116 win in a game Atlanta was listed as a 16-point underdog. The team put him on the injury list with right Achilles tendinitis, but the NBA's investigation concluded that he was healthy enough to play.

From the press release:

Following an investigation, including review by an independent physician, the NBA determined that the Hawks held Young out of a game that he could have played in under the medical standard in the Policy. The organization's conduct violated the Policy, which is intended to promote participation in the NBA's regular season.

Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season, the PPP has stipulated that if a star player -- defined as any player who has made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the previous three seasons -- misses an NBA Cup game or nationally televised game, the league office will investigate the situation, with certain exceptions. 

In this case, Young missed only Atlanta's 117-116 win against Boston, a one-off road game. He has appeared in every other game the Hawks played this season, including a 129-117 win against the Washington Wizards three days later.

"It's been like a lingering thing to start the season," Young told reporters after the Wizards game. "It started feeling a little bit more uncomfortable before the last game, and sometimes you gotta stop me from myself sometimes, so I kind of got some advice that I should sit, and the basketball gods were with us. We went up there and won and the team played great. It was just more of a precaution thing, and it's something I'm going to have to play through, but tonight it wasn't too crazy."

The Hawks had two non-game days immediately preceding the Celtics game. By skipping the Boston game, they were able to give him five consecutive days of rest -- a rarity during the NBA season -- at little cost. Until the NBA fined them for doing so, that is.

If you think the PPP was an overreach, then you could argue that Atlanta should have been allowed to make this call without fear of reprisal, regardless of whether or not Young was physically able to play. A proponent of the PPP, however, could argue that the fine shows that the system is working, as this is precisely the type of calculation that the league doesn't want teams to be able to make.

Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy

Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy

Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy

Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy

Hawks' most surprising win of season ends up costing team $100,000 thanks to NBA player participation policy