The successful load management of Kawhi Leonard during his one season in Toronto was considered to be a blueprint for the rest of the NBA by many analysts, and while it remains to be seen whether all of the league’s top stars begin sitting out 20 games per season, the Clippers are currently on pace to rest Leonard for a quarter of the season.

For the second time in his team’s first eight games, Leonard will miss a nationally televised broadcast on ESPN, and watch the Clippers face reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in what was expected to be a potential NBA Finals preview. The game is the first of a home back-to-back for Los Angeles, and Leonard is expected to play on Thursday against the Blazers. Leonard previously sat out on October 30th as the Clippers lost to the Jazz, which also was the first game of a back-to-back.

The NBA prohibits teams from resting healthy players in high-profile nationally televised games, and can levy a $100,000 fine against teams who break the rule. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Clippers cleared both of Leonard’s absences with the league and will not face fines, as the decision to rest him is “related to an injury.”

The Clippers, officially, are protecting Leonard’s knee – yet he’ll be healthy enough to play 24 hours after the Clippers tip-off against the Bucks, and Doc Rivers said last week that Leonard has “never felt better.”

Clearly the NBA’s rule against resting players in high-profile games, which was instituted in 2017, isn’t working. Leonard missed 22 games last season for the Raptors, and could exceed that total this season with Los Angeles. Even if the NBA were to reject the Clippers’ excuse and fine the team anyway, billionaire Clippers owner Steve Ballmer likely isn’t going to worry about $100,000 if his organization believes resting Leonard is the right move long-term.

If the league were to become more stringent with enforcement, it’d be easy enough for a team to list a player with a minor injury, exempting them from the load management rule. The reality is that there’s no easy way for the NBA to keep star players on the floor. On Wednesday, Doris Burke predicted that nothing will change unless a prolonged decline in TV ratings related to load management affected the bottom line for owners and players. That could take years to materialize.

The load management trend isn’t going to affect every team equally. LeBron James played 82 games in the regular season at the age of 33 just two seasons ago, and Knicks coach David Fizdale recently rejected calls for the team to rest rookie R.J. Barrett. Still, for certain teams like the Clippers, fans will never be sure if the best player will be on the floor when they buy a ticket to the game. That’s not a problem the NBA will be able to fix any time soon.