The Warriors have a shocking 6-18 on the road record this season but managed to get a win on OKC’s home court this week.
Despite this, the main focus of the media was the absence of four key players in Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins, who were out due to load management.
Many recent debates around load management have been going on in the NBA community and when Curry was asked about it, he was pretty frank with his response.
“I usually campaign to play every game,” he said. “That’s the misconception about load management and how it goes. It’s never the player that is usually saying, ‘Hey, I want to sit.’
The four-time NBA Champion made it very clear that the players are not wanting to miss any time at all.
“So, for all those people that are worried about that part of our league, it’s usually not the player that is going to the training staff and saying, ‘Hey, I don’t have it tonight.’ It’s usually the other way around. There’s a lot of science involved.”
Curry also didn’t play in their away game against the Cavs and a sign from a fan did the rounds on social media that read “Traveled 809 miles to take my son to see (Curry) sit on the bench.”
Following the win in Cleveland, GSW coach Steve Kerr spoke about load management, and his solution.
“I feel terrible for fans who buy tickets expecting to see someone play and they don’t get to see that person play. It’s a brutal part of the business,” Kerr said.
“It’s why I’m going to continue to advocate for 72-game seasons. I know that means less revenue. But at some point, I think there needs to be an awareness from everybody involved – the league, players, coaches, performance staff. Let’s be really smart. Let’s take care of these guys and play fewer games and the overall quality of the game will be better, and if that’s the case revenue is going to go up anyway.”