The NBA is still abuzz after commissioner David Stern fined the San Antonio Spurs $250,000 for sending home Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green rather than have them play in last Friday's nationally televised matchup against the Miami Heat. We debate whether Stern was justified or wrong for doling out the hefty fine. 

Andrew Seah: Stern Was Out of Line

To say that coach Gregg Popovich moves to the beat of his own drum is an understatement. That he is often never on the same wavelength of the league and it's commissioner, David Stern, is no fault of his own. Popovich coaches the only team he knows - the San Antonio Spurs; Stern manages the entire league in which, judging by his recent actions, he can barely claim to be in the know. 

When coach Popovich decided to rest his star trio - Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan - along with key cog Danny Green for their nationally televised game against the reigning NBA champions in Miami, it was a decision rooted in sensibility. This wasn't Popovich messing with fans of the game. This wasn't Popovich toying with the commissioner as he so often does with sideline reporters. This was Popovich making the best decision that he felt would most benefit his team. As the man himself said, the decision was "pretty logical" given that his team were going through a rough stretch of four games in five nights, and this was their final game of a six-game road trip. It was the proverbial schedule-maker's loss. If anything, one could make a case that, with the arduous schedule that was dealt to the Spurs, Stern himself sat those players.

Stern wasted little time laying down the gauntlet, issuing a foreboding statement before the night's game, promising "substantial sanctions", and then backing up that promise by slapping the Spurs with a hefty $250,000 fine. To be clear: the fine is preposterous and unwarranted on many levels. This isn't the first time Popovich has rested all three stars on a single night - in fact, he did it several times last season. It wasn't an issue then, and it shouldn't be an issue now. That the game so happened to be the only nationally broadcasted game of the night, in what was billed as a much-anticipated clash of the league's elite, was merely unfortunate happenstance.

The Spurs have always been lauded as the model franchise - with professionalism being the operative word - from their players, coaches, front office, and management. This was an extension of their modus operandi in which the priority has always been winning. Popovich paces his team with a precision and knack that other coaches have always admired. If he felt that his stars were due some rest, it was his prerogative to do as he saw fit. 

By needlessly exercising his iron fist, Stern has opened a new can of worms. He is essentially setting a new precedent of telling coaches how to coach - treacherous waters, to say the least. Will coaches now look over their shoulder, for fear of a fine, when they plan to sit their star players? Or will they resort to the tried-and-true phantom excuses of "flu-like symptoms" or "back spasms"? It is refreshing that a coach is as transparent with his decision making as Popovich is, but Stern only seems concerned with the business of the NBA, and not the basketball itself. 

What was more egregious was the timing of Stern's initial statement to the media. By announcing his intent to punish the Spurs before the game against Miami, it served a sole implicit purpose. Stern wanted to hang Popovich out to dry throughout the entire broadcast. He wanted to teach Popovich a lesson. He envisioned a blowout in which the lopsidedness of the contest justified his actions - an exclamation mark. 

But of course, Popovich outsmarted him once again. Of course, he coaxed a near-perfect game from the team's second unit. San Antonio's rag-tag mob of role players played their hearts out and hung with the defending champions right till the very end. They were a clutch Ray Allen three pointer away from stealing the most unlikeliest of victories and utterly embarrassing the commissioner. And, in the process, both teams delivered what was arguably the most competitive wire-to-wire game of the young 2012-2013 season. 

If Stern was concerned with competitiveness or entertainment value, he didn't have to worry; both were present in spades. It is hard to pinpoint the myriad motivations that fueled Stern to do what he did. However, the ridiculousness of the sanction - given the prior cases that went unpunished - along with the many potential land mines the league has to carefully tread from now on, lends credence to the notion that Stern was more concerned with reminding everyone (including himself) that he is still commissioner. 

Jacob Freedman: Stern Made the Right Call

Like it or not, David Stern's exact power as NBA commissioner is unclear. We saw that last December when Stern vetoed a trade that would have made Chris Paul a Laker, not a Clipper. And this past weekend, we saw Stern set a new precedent for his unsaid powers with his $250,000 scolding of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich after the veteran coach sent his stars on a flight home rather than staying in Florida to face the Miami Heat in a nationally televised game on TNT. 

Popovich has sat Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili before (Danny Green also didn't make it), but never in such an egregious manner. Not only did Popovich bench his most visible stars- the players Spurs' fans in Miami paid to see and the reason why the Spurs are relevant (sorry Tiago Splitter) - but he didn't even send them to Miami. It's understandable that some injured players don't travel with the team, but to allow healthy (from what we know) members of the active roster to not even have to be with the rest of their teammates is disrespectful to their 11 teammates who stayed in Miami for the game. Duncan and the other three players might be more important to the squad than say, fourth-string point guard Cory Joseph, but what kind of message does it send to the rest of the roster when the four didn't even have to stay to cheer on their squad? 

When Popovich benched his star trio last year and in years' past, it was during the late-season grind. By then, the Spurs had usually locked up their playoff seeding (or at least a playoff spot). In contrast, "Restgate" as some are calling it, occurred in Spurs' 17th game out of an 82-game slate. Popovich defended his decision by arguing that it was the Spurs' fourth game in five nights on the road. That's true, but it's also the nature of the game. 

There are inevitably going to be years when the scheduling gurus incidentally favor some teams while other teams like have grueling stretches like the Spurs did last week. The Spurs are in a comfier position than an NFL team that might have to play two games in five days with the NBA season being so long, but simply excusing his players should not be an option for a coach. 

The fact that it took a fourth quarter rally for the Heat to defeat the short-handed Spurs is not relevant. Popovich purposely chose to drastically reduce his chances at winning in an early-season contest should, and as Stern has shown, and will not be tolerated. "Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans," Stern said in his statement that went along with the $250,000 fine. The Spurs certainly didn't help Stern from a business end either. 

There may be a degree of separation, but Popovich is inadvertently causing the Spurs organization to bite the hand that feeds it. TNT pays hundreds of millions of dollars each year for the right to broadcast a select slate of NBA games, and the NBA makes around $1.2 billion annually from their TV contracts, according to Forbes. The players receive 51.2 percent of basketball-related income under 2011's new labor deal, but the rest goes to owners and other league employees. We should not let our emotions cloud the true nature of the NBA. At its core, the National Basketball Association is one of the biggest businesses in the entire entertainment industry. 

Stern will never admit it, but the fact that the Spurs reduced a marquee, primetime matchup between two of the league's top squads into a game pitting stars against role players likely played a factor in their punishment. Although those bench players made for an exciting game, the absence of Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili hurt the attractiveness of the game from a broadcasting standpoint. The NBA is a star-driven league, as the teams with the most recognizable faces tend to sell the most jerseys and in most cases, win more championships. Popovich hurt TV ratings; ratings that are a main financial reason behind why the NBA can exist as it is. 

The Spurs organization has yet to release a statement responding to the fine (and might not), but Stern has drawn his line in the sand. The 69-year-old commissioner may only be around for two more years, but this ruling shows us that the Stern's swan song could help set precedents in how far a sports commissioner will go to protect the integrity of his league. 

Reach Associate Sports Editor Jacob Freedman here or follow him on Twitter.

Reach Staff Writer Andrew Seah here or follow him on Twitter.