The NBA has fined the Brooklyn Nets $100,000 for violating the league's Player Participation Policy during a Dec. 27 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. Head coach Jacque Vaughn did not play Spencer Dinwiddie, Cam Johnson, Nic Claxton, or Dorian Finney-Smith vs. Milwaukee, with the team citing rest and injury maintenance on its status report.

“Following an investigation, including review by an independent physician, the NBA determined that four Nets rotation players, who did not participate in the game, could have played under the medical standard in the Player Participation Policy, which was adopted prior to this season,” the league said in a statement. “The organization's conduct violated the Policy, which is intended to promote player participation in the NBA's 82-game season.”

In addition to resting Dinwiddie, Johnson, Claxton, and Finney-Smith, the Nets garnered heavy criticism for their decision to bench their remaining rotation players late in the game.

Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas, and Royce O'Neale did not play after the first quarter. Despite trailing by eight points entering the fourth quarter, head coach Jacque Vaughn also did not play Dennis Smith Jr. or Day'Ron Sharpe in the final period. The Bucks outscored the Nets 44-30 in the frame with Brooklyn using a lineup of G-League players.

When asked about the decision, Vaughn said he didn't want to play Bridges, Thomas and O'Neale extended minutes after doing so the previous night against the Detroit Pistons.

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“My thought was getting a feel and pulse of the game,” the coach replied. “Mikal played 40 minutes last night, and so the thought was it wouldn't be wise for me to continue and go down this path and then have him play 40 minutes again. You have those decisions in the course of the game. I ran Cam, Royce, and Mikal pretty long in the first quarter. Just envisioned at the end of the night that I didn't want them touching 40 minutes again. That's really what it boiled down to.”

While Bridges played 40 minutes against Detroit, Thomas and O'Neale played 23 minutes and 15 minutes, respectively, something Vaughn did not address in his response.

Bridges is the owner of the NBA's longest active games played streak, having not missed a game since high school. Before the Milwaukee game, Vaughn admitted that the streak played a role in the forward playing.

However, Bridges disagreed while voicing displeasure with the team's decision to rest most of the rotation. The Nets have lost four straight games since the Milwaukee debacle, extending a cold stretch during which they have lost 10 of 12.