Adam Silver has called the practice of teams resting marquee players "an extremely significant issue for our league" in a memo to league owners Monday.

In the memo, Silver informed teams that the issue will be a prime topic of discussion at the next NBA Board of Governors meeting April 6 in New York and warned of ‎"significant penalties" for teams that don't abide by the league's standing rules for providing ‎"notice to the league office, their opponent, and the media immediately upon a determination that a player will not participate in a game due to rest.

Silver said that it is unacceptable for owners to be uninvolved or defer decision-making on this topic to others in their organizations.

On Monday, ESPN released a statement about the teams resting their star players during nationally televised games.

"As always, our aim is to serve NBA fans with the best matchups involving the league's top stars and we share the fans' disappointment. We understand this is a complex issue and we're working closely with the NBA to best address it going forward from a media partnership standpoint, " the statement said.