The Minnesota Timberwolves have been fined $25,000 for resting star guard D'Angelo Russell, the NBA announced.

Minnesota violated the league's player resting policy after 2019 All-Star Russell – who sat out on February 8 due to a quadriceps injury – did not face the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.

The NBA "deemed Russell a healthy player under the policy that was designed in part to minimise star player absences from nationally televised games".

In a statement, the Timberwolves said: ''While we respect the league's guidelines and standards, we are a player-centric organisation that's focused on learning and optimizing our players' bodies.

''As a new player in our program, we chose to rest D'Angelo in order to learn his body better and to optimise his health during a difficult stretch of games and travel."

Russell – acquired from the Golden State Warriors prior to the trade deadline – is averaging 23.7 points, 6.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game this season.