Until NBA Stakeholders Show Willingness To Share Sacrifice, Fans Forced To Manage Expectations In Era Of Load Management

I come at the whole “load management” dilemma in the NBA from a different perspective. As a long-suffering Nets fan, I watch their games with tunnel vision—praying that they win. If certain opposing stars, such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis when the Lakers visited Barclays Center on Monday night, aren’t in their team’s lineup--and that helps Brooklyn win--I’m not going to be disappointed. I’ve seen enough games over the years where James dominated the Nets. It only left me bitter afterwards, as opposed to the warm serenity I felt as I exited the arena following Brooklyn’s 121-104 victory.  Conversely, I have also come to grips that there will be a few “schedule losses” baked into Brooklyn’s season.  

Now, I recognize that I’m in the minority on this. Barclays Center was packed to the brim with people who still showed up seemingly so they could take pictures of James in a casual sweater. Everyone sitting near me by the tunnel rose to their feet as he came out for each half. He was the draw for most of them, not the Nets versus the Lakers.

I do empathize with those who went out of their way to plan for the event, paying outrageous ticket prices, only to be treated to a bait-and-switch. It was L.A.’s only Brooklyn visit this season and the transformational James, 38, may not have many more appearances on his plate. It doesn’t seem fair and it’s a material turnoff for a league that is constantly on the lookout for growth opportunities.

Under former Commissioner David Stern, the league evolved into one where stars outshone the teams. The marketing under Stern’s successor Adam Silver hasn’t changed, but the surrounding realities have. In Michael Jordan’s 10 prime seasons (not including his midseason comeback from minor league baseball in 1995), he missed a grand total of seven games. Magic Johnson suited up for at least 72 games in all but two of his first 12 seasons until he contracted HIV. On the other hand, Brooklyn superstar forward Kevin Durant, who is currently recovering from an MCL sprain, has exceeded 72 games played just once in the last nine years.

Old-timers dispute that today’s game is harder on players’ bodies, but the injury lists suggest otherwise. Ironically, all this despised load management and adherence to other tenets of sports science came about because they were promoted as game savers—by reducing injury risk. Instead, from my anecdotal view, injuries haven’t diminished one iota. Players, both the stars and role players, keep dropping like flies.

Still, the teams have to try to get through this 82-game marathon, which the NBA has had for the last 53 years (excepting the seasons cut short by labor disputes and COVID-19) using the most relevant data in front of them. I know that the Nets Performance Team measures virtually every body part’s functionality on every player on a regular basis. Without understanding the mechanisms behind how teams use the data to make their activation decisions, they seem to me more like art than science.

Unfortunately, that’s why load management, though the term has technically been disallowed under new league rules but has been replaced by its evil twin “injury management”, is here to stay. While no one expected James’ leg to sever at its joint had he played on Monday, the Lakers had to weigh the risk of a potential lengthier absence due to overworking James during their dense schedule versus the benefits from an extra night off.

This analysis is happening in just about every NBA training room. The easiest solution to minimize the need for teams to make such determinations is for the NBA to cut the number of games by at least 10. That would eliminate the back-to-backs and three-games-in-four-nights stretches that are the triggers behind load manage… er, injury management designations. Had there been an off day between L.A.’s two New York City gigs instead of them being required to take on the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, the chances that James and Davis would have played both contests would have been very high.

Only it’s not so easy, since that would mean reduced revenue—for every stakeholder except the customer. Fewer ticket sales and ancillary income streams for owners, salary cuts for players, less inventory for network TV partners, etc. Who’s going to be the first to raise their hand to volunteer to make such a sacrifice? Anyone? Bueller?  

From the league’s vantage, they may seethe internally when their member clubs disenchant their fans, but they also see that there have been enough games that have been competitive despite one side being severely shorthanded. Just this season, the Nets won at Indiana after declaring about eight of their usual rotation members inactive while they also lost to a Philadelphia squad that was missing Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxey. Sometimes, lesser NBA players take advantage of these rare opportunities to make public statements about how they got into the league in the first place. Such displays may not seem attractive to stargazers in the crowd, but it is still, in the league’s view, quality entertainment.   

Even Monday’s affair was far from the cakewalk it should have been on paper. Brooklyn had built a healthy early cushion but came out of the locker room for the second half without the proper respect for the game. The Lakers turned up their ball denial defensive screws and even managed to hold a lead into the final minute of the third quarter. It took a big effort from their version of the Microwave, sophomore Cam Thomas, who scored 11 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, to help the Nets slowly pull away. By Nets Head Coach Jacque Vaughn’s decision, Thomas had previously earned more than 13 minutes just once since December 12.

It was Brooklyn’s fourth win in their last six games after enduring a four-game losing streak, all without Durant. Joining KD in street clothes on Monday was Ben Simmons and T.J. Warren, who were both nursing knee injuries. You could argue that Brooklyn’s “legitimate” handicaps were almost on a par with L.A.’s “manufactured” ones.

In the end, the game was played by those who showed up in uniform. The crowd got over it, with the healthy Lakers throng gaining strength during their third quarter run and Nets fans erupting when Kyrie Irving’ corner three-pointer to beat the shot clock with two minutes remaining put Brooklyn up by 14 points. Sorry, but that was enough to make my evening immensely satisfying.