Key schedule change by Adam Silver could have huge impact on NBA teams this season

A new "rule" added by NBA commissioner Adam Silver should bring much more intrigue to high-profile games on national television.

Naturally, as the NBA officially released its schedule Thursday afternoon, many quickly gravitated toward the national slate. How many games would each team get in the national spotlight? Which teams are playing on the biggest nights of the year? It's continuously one of the bigger draws of the league releasing the schedule.

Interestingly enough, to add to that intrigue, it seems as if NBA commissioner Adam Silver has added another interesting wrinkle that continues to stress the importance of games played on national TV. According to a recent report, the schedule has changed in the way that teams won't play the day before or after a "high-profile" national televised game. In an attempt to push the national TV games, this is a "rule," if that's what you want to call it, that makes a ton of sense.

I'm not sure if this will stop teams from resting players on nationally televised games, but it's a natural way to prevent it from happening. In fact, the argument could be made that this is a change the NBA should've introduced years ago.

Would it have prevented the "load management" era in the NBA, but you never know. As the NBA continues to improve the product, this seems like a natural way to boost their nationally televised spotlight games.

In the first season of this change, it'll be interesting to see what changes occur. And if more are necessary.

Does the NBA still have a load management problem?

I'd like to give Adam Silver some truth serum and ask him if he generally thinks there's still a "load management" problem in the NBA. While it's impossible to stop, I'm not sure it's a bigger problem today than it was, say, 3-4 years ago. It seems like it has either become a thing of the past or something the league has grown to live with.

Even though this rule change will certainly change the dynamic of the schedule, especially when it comes to nationally televised games, I'm not sure if there's much more the league can do as they attempt to stop the "load management" way of thinking across the league.

But, I have to give Silver credit, this was a much-needed change. The NBA's product will be better because of this schedule change.