NBA: What is load management? Why are NBA fans voicing their frustrations?

There are 82 games in a regular NBA season. However, 60 is the number of games Kawhi Leonard played for the Toronto Raptors last season as they won their first-ever NBA Championship. The reason? A concept termed as 'load management'. 

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Interestingly, the now-Clippers' star Kawhi Leonard has already missed two out of eight games this season due to load management. In doing so, the Clippers star missed the game against the Milwaukee Bucks and in turn, essentially robbed NBA fans of an early glimpse of a Kawhi Leonard-Giannis Antetokounmpo match-up. With the term 'load management' being thrown around a lot in the past couple of seasons in the NBA, let's delve into what this term essentially means. 

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What is load management?

'Load management' has been brought into existence partly in order to prevent players' fatigue during a gruelling 82-game season, and partly to ensure that the key players in an NBA team remain fit enough to provide the star turn during the playoffs. Players like Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis and LeBron James missing games due to load management basically means that NBA teams are treating the regular season as a half-speed dress rehearsal. Interestingly, the NBA enforced a rule in 2017 which stated that resting players in high-profile and nationally televised games would attract a fine. A fine of $100,000 is the one in question. The LA Clippers, however, cleared the issue of Kawhi Leonard's absence in both the games he has missed this season, stating that the former Raptors' star is nursing a niggling knee injury. 

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NBA's load management comes at a time when players like Houston Rockets' superstar James Harden have been sustaining recurring injuries. However, load management is an issue that is increasingly coming to the fore due to the reaction from NBA fans. The fans no longer have the certainty that the star players they came to watch live will take the court on any given day, as evident by Kawhi Leonard's absence against reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo's Bucks. The Clippers did succumb to defeat against the Bucks, but Clippers' head coach Doc Rivers will not be too bothered by the loss if it means that Kawhi Leonard is in top shape when the playoffs are on the horizon. 

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