Load management has been an intriguing topic of conversation in the NBA for many years. The propensity of many teams to rest players throughout the course of what is a very long season is at odds with the league's desire to get as many bums on seats and eyes on TVs as possible, and recently the NBA announced a new rest policy to try to reduce the frequency with which star players miss games. But the extensive new rules have plenty of exceptions, and LeBron James is among one of numerous players set to benefit from those.

The new policy will provide allowances for players who have already got a lot of miles in their legs, with anyone aged 35 years or over, or who has played in either at least 34,000 minutes or 1,000 regular season and playoff games able to receive prior load management approval from the league. This won't be an exemption from the rules entirely, but it will enable them to sit one leg of a back-to-back provided the team provides an explanation as to why at least a week in advance.

LeBron James pretty comfortably fits into every one of those categories – he's set to turn 39 next season, and has played over 1,700 games and close to 67,000 minutes. And he's not the only big name to fit into the criteria. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are the other league superstars who will be able to secure this exemption, as will James Harden, DeMar DeRozan and Mike Conley, among plenty of others.

These players obviously aren't all major culprits of load management regardless, though invariably as players get older their desire and ability to push through niggles they may have played with in the past tends to dwindle. But at 39, in the case of LeBron James, sitting every now and then is a little more justified and probably necessary than it is for plenty of others in the league. This exception is one of many idiosyncracies in the new policy which attempts to balance getting the best out of players and avoiding injury, while equally ensuring as many fans as possible get the best viewing experience they can, as often as possible.