NBA Load Management Mayhem

The Two Sided Coin of Load Management in the NBA

Photo from Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Load Management in the NBA refers to the act of teams resting their healthy star players during the regular season. This is usually done to prevent injuries, reduce fatigue and extend longevity for certain players. However, this action has sparked criticism around the NBA on whether it should be allowed or not.

Recently, in 2023, the NBA enacted more harsh rules towards load management, which were enforced to keep the best players in the league playing. These new rules mainly stated how and when teams can sit their All-Stars from games for rest or injury prevention purposes. Some rules of this new policy state that: a team cannot rest more than one star player from a game, a team must make star players available for nationally televised games and In-Season Tournament games and a team must have any healthy players resting for a game present and visible to the fans. Adam Silver, the NBA Commissioner, says this new policy for load management is “ultimately for the fans,” as he believes that fans deserve to see the best players in the league play if they are healthy.

Along with this policy, in April of 2023, the NBA also set an appearance minimum for players to be eligible for most of the league's major yearly awards and honors. Those awards and honors, for example, being the MVP and All-NBA and All-Defensive honors. This appearance minimum says that to be eligible for these awards, a player must play at least 65 out of the 82 games in the regular season. This minimum was put into place in an attempt for the best players to play more often, so they can strive for the most prestigious awards in the league. This and the new load management policy show the NBA’s push toward being more strict about load management as Adam Silver believes “it has gotten away from us a bit.”

These rules and policies have struck some debate about whether load management is a good or bad thing to have in the NBA. Some people, like coaches and front-office team members, often defend the act of load management by using injury data and analyses for players' reduced usage as reasons to keep in in the league. However, some believe that load management is not necessary and should not be allowed. Micheal Jordan, for example, is someone who believes that the NBA should not allow load management. He believes “it shouldn’t be needed” because when he played, he did not believe in the act and rarely ever sat out of games. Jordan rarely sat because he wanted to “impress that guy way up on top who probably worked his butt off to get a ticket or to get money to buy the ticket.” Jordan’s most infamous example of this came in Game 5 of the 1997, where he was believed to have food poisoning. However, he still played in the game and ended with 38 points as he led Chicago one win closer to an NBA Finals victory. This game became dubbed as “The Flu Game” as Jordan led his team to victory despite him being sick, showing his dedication and passion to the game and fans.

Load management in the NBA has proven to be beneficial for players; however, it is unfair to the fans who want to see the stars shine. Only time will tell if load management will continue to be implemented in the NBA, or if it will be outlawed.