I donât particularly like load management, but I donât hate it either. It has clearly worked. And itâs a decision that has to be approved by ownership who are writing the checks. They know whatâs at stake. Theyâll take the hit with player salaries because they stand to make so much more if the team wins a championship (i.e. merchandising, ads, TV contracts, season ticket sales etc). If a team is bad, their best player isnât getting the green light to sit out (unless itâs like Kobeâs retirement tour or something).
Additionally, I donât like the league fining teams for load management because it shouldnât be valuing some players over others. When a completely healthy non-star player rides the bench for seven straight DNP-Coachâs decision, no one sheds a tear (and rightly so). If ownership wants to shoulder the burden of resting players in both dollars and fan goodwill, thatâs on them. That said, the idea of the league trying to dictate who plays doesnât sit well with me because it isnât applied indiscriminately, and it should if this happens at all. What we may see is players like Kawhi Leonard suiting up for games then never checking in. Then what do you do?
Resting players extends their careers. You have to weigh whether itâs worth a player missing fifteen to twenty games a season if it means they may play four or five
more seasons. Manu Ginobili was 39 when this happened:
For BNMbroodwars brought up Stockton, Malone, Jordan and Barkley. Stockton is an edge case. Malone may have a championship ring if he had some DNP-rest for some games in his lone Lakers season. Jordan sat out almost two seasons. Barkleyâs body broke down so he is one of the worst examples. I was a huge Barkley fan back in the day. He talked about retiring when he was on the Suns.