Over the past decade, load management has been a prevalent topic of NBA conversation. Many players have popularized it as a method of recovery. Unfortunately, it comes at the expense of the fan.
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Two-time NBA champion Kawhi Leonard pioneered the load management movement. During his sole season with the Toronto Raptors, the team would sporadically rest rest him. He missed numerous games without a direct injury. Many other stars soon hopped on the trend, like Joel Embiid, Paul George and Anthony Davis.
To no surprise, this habit of NBA players taking days off for seemingly no reason hasn’t landed well with fans. Many within NBA circles have also raised their voices, including Hall-of-Fame forward Charles Barkley, who is critical of the players and empathizes with the fans.
“[NBA players] can’t keep crapping on the fans,” Barkley declared on The Dan Patrick Show. “You’re making $70 million and can’t play basketball four days a week? You can’t work two days in a row?”
This isn’t the first time Barkley has called out the lack of heart from today’s NBA players. Of course, professional basketball is demanding on the body, and the physicality does take a toll, but not as much as other occupations.
“We’re not steel workers. We’re not nurses,” Barkley said in an episode of Inside the NBA in late October 2024. As long as load management exists while contracts continue to increase, Barkley believes that fans will have the right to hate on players.
Barkley’s argument is intriguing, since emotions fuel fans. That could lead down a dangerous path where the line of respect could become blurred, as it was when Philadelphia 76ers reporter Marcus Hayes crossed a boundary regarding Joel Embiid’s health.
Hayes brought up the Sixers star’s deceased brother and mentioned Embiid’s son in an attempt to prove a point. Embiid took offense, shoved the reported, and threatened him. Once that line between the public and the athlete becomes blurred, more similar instances could occur.
That isn’t to say that players don’t deserve criticism. It simply becomes a matter of finding a perfect balance to keep these athletes accountable while also maintaining appropriate levels of respect.
