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The concept of load management in the NBA is a near-daily topic, and it was one for Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday and Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George. On Podcast P, Holiday and George went in a back-and-forth segment talking about load management and how it's manifested into a regular thing, so rapidly. They both agreed that it's beneficial for players to play more and rest less, Holiday's approach was a bit more profound. He explained how his experience shaped his thoughts about the topic.
“I think it was gone when they started giving the keys to some of the younger guys too early,” Holiday said. “I think that a lot of the times coming in I had to earn the right to be on the court, I had to earn the right to be on the court with Lou Williams and A.I. (Allen Iverson).
“There is a lot of things that I had to seriously put in my time and pay my dues. Where there are generational talents now, and you kind of have to take your chances on young guys coming in but I think sometimes younger guys now don’t have to pay their dues the way they used to.”
Celtics' Jrue Holiday and Paul George's comments show the growing load management concern
Load management has been a big topic of discussion, and for good reason. Although teams use it as a ways to rest their star players, sometimes, it's overused. For instance, star players will be rested for the final 10 games if their team has clinched a playoff spot. Not to mention, there's only a handful of players who played all 82 games.
There's only 17 players in the NBA who played all 82 games. None of those players were all-stars, or All-NBA players. The last time a superstar played all 82 games was LeBron James in the 2017-18 season. While times are changing, there's no rhyme or reason. The Celtics guard mentioned young players being in load management, and he's absolutely right.
For example, guys like Lauri Markkanen, Trae Young, and Zach LaVine have all taken games off for “rest” purposes. Even Charles Barkley had criticism about load management. Those guys are quality players but teams are giving them rest without any justification. Team like the Utah Jazz were trying to indirectly tank.
However, that reason is only a fraction of why players are being rested. Regardless, times are changing and it doesn't seem like the league is going back to where it was. However, guys like Holiday will continue to be the example of what was the standard.
