The Nets’ decision to value rest over a game hurt them in the standings and now in the wallet.

On Thursday the NBA announced it fined the Nets $100,000 for “violating the league’s Player Participation Policy” with a case of extreme load management in a loss to the Bucks on Dec. 27.

The NBA says its investigation, which was reviewed by an independent physician, found that “four Nets rotation players, who did not participate in the game, could have played under the medical standard in the Player Participation Policy.”

The Nets opted to sit Nic Claxton (citing injury maintenance to a left ankle sprain), Spencer Dinwiddie (rest), Dorian Finney-Smith (left knee soreness) and Cam Johnson (injury maintenance to a right knee sprain).

The load management extended into the game itself.

Mikal Bridges, Cam Thomas and Royce O’Neale did not play after the first quarter.

The Nets relied upon bench pieces and G-League call-ups such as Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead and actually were within eight points after three quarters.

The Nets could have turned back to Bridges, Thomas and O’Neale if they wanted a better shot at stealing the game in the last period.

They didn’t, and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s group pulled away.

The game was the Nets’ fifth in seven days, the tail end of a back-to-back that required a trip from Detroit to Brooklyn, and preceded a four-game, six-night road trip.

The Nets lost all four games on the road trip, the rest apparently not translating to results.

The crush of games was due in part to the Nets’ upcoming European trip, which will include three full days off before and after the Nets play the Cavaliers in Paris next Thursday.

“I’ve got to think short term and long term and make executive decisions for the betterment of the group,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said before the loss to the Bucks. “So that’s where we’re at tonight. Just being smart about what is presented in front of us. … It’s unfortunate tonight that they just got to the point where we’re putting them in harm’s way by putting them out there tonight.”

Help appears to be on the way.

The Nets upgraded Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Smith Jr. to “probable” for Friday’s game against the Thunder at Barclays Center.

Walker has not played since Nov. 30, when he strained his left hamstring and represented a large loss to the Nets.

The guard had emerged as the team’s sixth man and was averaging 14.6 points in his first 17 games, a scoring punch the Nets have missed.

Walker has missed the past 17 games, a span in which Brooklyn has won just six games.

Smith is likely to return from a one-game absence, sitting in Houston with lower-back soreness.

In the first fan returns of All-Star voting, Bridges ranks seventh among Eastern Conference frontcourt players. Bridges was the lone Net to crack a top 10.