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Over the past couple of years, there have been several discussions about how “load management” is being used in the NBA. Most teams put their players under that tag if they want to rest them, but for others, it's more than just that.
Toronto Raptors assistant coach Alex McKechnie was a key player in developing the load management strategy for Kawhi Leonard last season, and per Sportset, he said they it used as an extra precautionary measure, as Leonard was coming off a serious quad injury:
“You have to understand that certain injuries respond to load and certain injuries don’t respond to load. …They’re not resting and doing nothing. It’s about building a load and managing to identify the load and sustain the load on a consistent basis so there’s no peaks and valleys, no yo-yo effect.”
Leonard missed 22 games last season, with load management playing a large role in that, but it helped the Raptors in a big way. He was fresh for the playoffs, and the end result was the team winning its first-ever championship.
McKechnie said Leonard could've missed fewer games because he really wanted to play, so they decided to meet halfway and made sure all parties were okay with him stepping on the court for a specific game:
“Players want to play. We had an unusual situation that we had to deal with. But players basically want to play. It’s about identifying where you need to make a change or take a rest at some point.”
With guys like Kristaps Porzingis, Klay Thompson, and Jusuf Nurkic expected to return sometime next season from major injuries, expect their teams to use load management as well, not only to rest, but also for the medical staff to assess their progress in terms of their health and recovery.
