Load management has been a raging debate in the NBA which seems to get worse every season and now Miami star Bam Adebayo has explained why he doesn’t like it.
Load management is something the fans do not like and to the NBA’s credit, the league is trying to combat it by including more rest in 2023-24 schedule and introducing a 65-game threshold for postseason awards.
But it is heartbreaking to see when fans, especially kids, travel thousands of miles to see their favorite NBA player only to watch them get rested.
2023 NBA Finalist Adebayo has a big problem with it and says its a quality he doesn’t like about players in the league because of the effect it has on fans.
“A lot of guys sitting, like load management, that kind of bothers me in a sense,” Adebayo said on The Inspire podcast. “You have a lot of kids and parents who want to see you play. You have kids who probably come from the inner city, and their parents make a way to put them all the way up in the stands, and then for you to find out you’re not playing. And it’s because you feel like ‘I gotta load manage and be ready for this.’ I remember as a kid, I would’ve gave my last dollar and my foot to go see Kobe Bryant play. I know if I felt like that it’s a lot of other kids that felt like that.”
Players like Jayson Tatum see load management as a philosophy and a choice – one that he doesn’t believe in and as a role model, tries to play in as many games as possible.
“I don’t decide, ‘We playing the Hornets tonight, I’m a chill,’ Tatum said at at a Nike EYBL camp in July. “I only get to go to Charlotte two times a year. Somebody paid they money to come watch me play,” Tatum firmly stated. “Like, not trying to be arrogant, there’s a bunch of kids in there in my shoes and my jersey. Just because we playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain’t nobody f*****g watching, I’m like ‘Oh, I’m chilling tonight.’ That’s not what the great players, the best players do.”
His comments contrast what other stars have said on the topic.
Earlier this year, Steph Curry tried to explain that for the most part, players are campaigning to suit up as much as possible but things aren’t always in their control.
“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.’
“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.”
But other players like Jayson Tatum see load management as a philosophy and a choice – one that he doesn’t believe in and as a role model, tries to play in as many games as possible.
“I don’t decide, ‘We playing the Hornets tonight, I’m a chill,’ Tatum said at at a Nike EYBL camp in July. “I only get to go to Charlotte two times a year. Somebody paid they money to come watch me play,” Tatum firmly stated. “Like, not trying to be arrogant, there’s a bunch of kids in there in my shoes and my jersey. Just because we playing Charlotte on NBA League Pass on a Monday and ain’t nobody f*****g watching, I’m like ‘Oh, I’m chilling tonight.’ That’s not what the great players, the best players do.”
It will be interesting to see if the new rules or schedule for the upcoming season will make a difference in the amount of games we see star players participating in.
Safe to say, Adebayo will be playing in as many games as possible, continuing his run of averaging 70 games per season during his six years in the league.