Nowadays, the best NBA players hardly ever play 82 games. Last season, Mikal Bridges ranked 50th in points per game, and he is the first player on that list to play 82 games. All 49 other scorers above him played fewer than that. There are a myriad of reasons for this, but one big one is load management. Teams don’t want their stars playing every single night to preserve them for the playoffs and to prevent injuries. That doesn’t sit right with Michael Jordan, an NBA legend who averaged almost 72 games played over a 15-year career.
Michael Jordan slams NBA stars who sit out for load management
For what it’s worth, Michael Jordan isn’t alone in this sentiment. Kobe Bryant, before he passed away, talked about trying to play every game because he knew there was someone out there in the stands who wanted to see him play. That’s essentially the same take Jordan had on NBC recently.
Via The Athletic, Jordan said, “It shouldn’t be needed. I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. The fans are there to watch me play. I want to impress that guy, way up on top, who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket.” The NBA has also tried to cut down on this, implementing new injury rules and adding a minimum number of games played to qualify for any sort of NBA award. Still, players sit out sometimes. It has become a part of the game today. It’s probably avoidable, especially with Jordan’s mentality, but teams don’t operate that way anymore.
Jordan understands that injuries happen and that players sometimes need to sit to heal, but there’s a fine line. He doesn’t believe healthy players should ever sit even if it’s to prioritize the long-term health of that player. “Physically, if I can do it and just don’t feel like doing it, that’s a whole different lens,” he said. For the most part, it’s not that players don’t “feel like doing it,” it’s just that there’s a priority on long-term health or rest, especially for veterans.
Jordan played 78 or more games in his final 12 seasons
As mentioned, Jordan hardly ever missed games. The Chicago Bulls legend played in at least 78 games in 12 of 15 seasons. A foot injury kept him from reaching that total in his second NBA season (he played just 18 games), and a return from his first retirement in 1995 kept him to just 17 games, and knee surgery in 2001-02 (60 games) kept him out.
This is, unfortunately, the modern NBA. How important is it to make sure Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Giannis Antetokounmpo hit 82 games when compared with injury risks? Playing more games adds to the stress level on a player’s body, and that can and does lead to injuries. This is especially true for players like LaMelo Ball, Kawhi Leonard, and Kyrie Irving, who’ve struggled with health a ton throughout their NBA careers. Is one game worth it? NBA teams don’t think so, but Michael Jordan disagrees.
This isn’t going away, either. Even with the new rules and stipulations for All-NBA and other awards, players and teams still find ways to prioritize freshness and health over sending them out every single night. It is also a little bit of an overblown issue, as most stars aren’t sitting out routinely. They still play plenty of games; they just miss a few here and there, but the overall tally is still very high. Nevertheless, every time a star player sits out without a substantial injury, this conversation rears its ugly head again. And that’s not going to change no matter who the player is.
