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The 2019-20 NBA regular season has been underway for quite some time now but, there is still some negativity in the air around it. The term load management, where a team intentionally rests a player to preserve their longevity, has become a bit of a Red Scare among fans. No, it isnt American politicians drumming up fear about resting players but rather the talking heads on most every sports show imaginable. It makes sense why they lean into the topic, negativity and drama creates an easy audience.

But, the fear appears to be nothing more than an illusion so far into this season.

So far, the NBA has only seen a handful of players who have sat out due to load management. Out of all of them, Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid is the only marquee player to recently make the list. But, fans were well-aware of Embiids sitting out as Philadelphia laid out their plan to rest Embiid before the season began. Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, the one player most associated with load management, used to join Embiid on this list. But, it has been recently discovered that he has been dealing with a left knee injury and the Clippers are doing their due diligence on protecting his health.

The problem is, fans will need more than the paragraph above to squash the negative connotation associated with load management. Especially when those with a larger platform will continue to drum up hysteria. One solution would be for the NBA to just shorten the number of games played. Financially, that doesnt make much sense for the NBA. Okay, well how about stretching out the length of the regular season to prevent back-to-back games? The NBA would then be competing even more with other professional leagues like the NFL, MLB and NHL for valuable time on national television. So, the two most obvious solutions dont seem probable at all for the NBA.

Thankfully, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. David Altchek, an attending orthopedic surgeon and co-chief emeritus in the sports medicine and shoulder service at the Hospital for Special Surgery as well as the Medical Director for the New York Mets and a medical consultant for the NBA, about the topic of load management and possible solutions for the NBA.

Altchek agrees that the most obvious solutions for the fans are also the most improbable for the NBA. Instead, he proposed an interesting idea that would mirror what the MLB does with its starting pitchers. If NBA organizations were to lay out a structured schedule that indicates when they are going to rest players, a lot of this negativity would likely go away. Granted, that transparency would eliminate any tactical planning between teams but fan support outweighs that risk.

Following with the theme of mirroring professional baseball, Altchek also proposed that teams could take the planned resting one step further by monitoring players minutes. Whether it is in practice, shootaround, travel, sleep schedules or in-game action, teams can actively monitor how much time and energy players expend to factor that into their planned resting schedule. Again, an added level of transparency between NBA organizations and the fans will only help squash the negative connotation associated with load management.

More than anything, time is the element that will help eliminate the negative connotation with load management. Right now, fully being able to grasp the nuances of resting players is difficult for fans to understand unless they were present for all behind the scenes operations of their favorite team. But, with time, the term load management will just become part of the vernacular and something that is accepted by fans. As it stands today, teams resting their players is a necessity in order to provide the best possible product for the fans every single night.

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Theres A Possible Solution For The NBA, Load Management And Fan Perception - Forbes