What is load management in NBA? All you need to know

As load management in the NBA continues to be a hot topic, many have continued to criticize players for sitting games without genuine reasons. Several years ago, load management became such a hot topic that the NBA wound up implementing guidelines for nationally televised games.

As much as the league has wanted to do everything it can to prevent tanking throughout the season, it has also tried to curb load management. Back in 2019, load management was described by Dr. Marcus Elliot as the practice of lowering the amount of stress a player's body is put under day-to-day so that they're able to recover and decrease the risk of injury.

While the practice sounds good in theory, it has opened the door to broader interpretations that have seen players sit out games they could have played. Usually, this occurs on the second night of back-to-backs, when a player working their way back into the rotation will rest.

Despite the reasoning behind the practice, it seems to have done little to curb injuries. As Stan Van Gundy recently pointed out online, players in the 90s practiced harder more often and played more back-to-backs while sustaining fewer injuries. With more injuries now than ever before, he questioned whether we were moving in the right direction.

Above, you can see ESPN covering load management in the NBA.

Hall of Famers sound off on load management in the NBA

Unsurprisingly, the old generation of players isn't too happy about load management in the NBA. After playing in an era with less technology and less science behind their day-to-day practices, Hall of Famers have been vocal about their criticisms.

Unsurprisingly, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have been the most prominent critics of load management, with both men speaking at length about the topic.

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As Barkley predicted on an episode of SiriusXM NBA radio earlier this month, players could be in trouble when the Collective Bargaining Agreement ends. He thinks there could be a lockout as the two sides wrestle for control.

"These dudes gonna do something to these players. They gonna be like, wait a minute you can't make $50 million and not play half the season, okay? Because now you're really just slapping me in my face and taking my check twice a month."

The late Kobe Bryant was also a pretty outspoken critic of load management. Back in 2019, Bryant was baffled by the idea of load management. In his eyes, being healthy enough to compete is your job as an NBA player.

“You’ve got a lot of people paying their hard-earned money to watch you perform. It’s your job to be in shape. It’s your job to perform at that level every single night. And as a competitor, I’m not duckin’ s**t. Like, it’s not, ‘Oh, my back hurts. I’m sore. We gotta play Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors tonight.'"

With the CBA up at the end of the 2023-24 season, it will be interesting to see how things play out.

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