The dilemma of load management is one that has taken the NBA by the throat this season, with players, fans, and coaches divided by it all. Fans hate it, players hate it, but coaches and front offices love it. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James explained why the players of today are in need of it, dating back to the upbringing in the Amateur Athletic Union basketball.
“These kids are going into the league already banged up, and I think parents and coaches need to know [that] … well, AAU coaches don’t give a f***,” James told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. “AAU coaches couldn’t give a damn about a kid and what his body is going through.”
Many players come already with serious scar tissue and plenty of miles on their joints by the time they're in their mid 20's, the result of travel ball and the constant circuit of playing the sport, not only in high school but also all summer long.
“I think [AAU] has something to do with it, for sure,” James said about the load management trend that's been recently expanding. “It was a few tournaments where my kids — Bronny and Bryce — had five games in one day and that’s just f**ing out of control. That’s just too much. And there was a case study where I read a report. I don’t know who wrote it not too long ago, and it was talking about the causes and [kid’s] bodies already being broken down and they contributed it to AAU basketball and how many games that these tournaments are having for the [financial benefit]. So, I’m very conscious for my own son because that’s all I can control, and if my son says he’s sore or he’s tired, he’s not playing.
“Because a lot of these tournaments don’t have the best interest of these kids, man. I see it. It’s like one time, they had to play a quarterfinal game, a semifinal game and a championship game starting at 9 a.m., and the championship game was at 12:30 p.m. Three games. I was like, ‘Oh, hell no.’ And my kids were dead tired. My kids were dead tired. This isn’t right. This is an issue.”
That mileage is not only piling up but building into future athletes as they grow, not showing permanent damage at an early age. Players like Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose have had multiple arthroscopies by the time they hit 30, something that wouldn't happen for NBA players until much later into their careers.
The trend of load management is a direct byproduct of AAU culture chipping away at the lifespan of a player, most times profiting from young legs and healthy bodies — a price the players later pay by sitting out games they hope they could take part in.
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