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Two words sure to create instant conversation with any NBA fan are load management. The term has been utilized over the past few years as a legitimate justification on the injury report for holding players out of regular-season games, while also being utilized as a term meant to mock players who seemingly choose not to participate to preserve themselves for the playoffs. Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard weighed in on the trend during a recent discussion with Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report, using Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard as an example:
Article Continues Below“When you love to play, you play,” the Blazers star said. “People give Kawhi a lot of s— for playing every other game, but I feel like he is dealing with something, where he's playing when he feels healthy enough to play. So it depends. He might have an injury that he shouldn't be playing with and he's playing through something. He's managing it to the best of his ability.”
Leonard has notoriously not played in both ends of a back-to-back in any of the last three seasons with the Clippers, Toronto Raptors or San Antonio Spurs, as he deals with a knee/thigh injury that ultimately led to his departure from San Antonio.
Leonard has never played more than 74 games in a single season across his eight-year career coming into 2019-20, while Lillard has never played fewer than 73 games in his seven years in the league. Lillard has been one of the most durable stars in the league and has avoided any major injury.
The conversation about load management certainly does not appear to be dying down anytime soon, and the league is attempting to figure out how to have organizations put their players on the floor when they are healthy to give fans their money's worth.
