Kyrie Irving has found himself something new to yell off into the void about.
The Dallas Mavericks guard spoke with reporters at All-Star Weekend on Saturday and voiced a bizarre (but extremely on-brand) complaint. Irving said that he takes exception to the term “load management” because it is supposedly dehumanizing.
“I don’t know who created the term ‘load management,'” said Irving, per the Washington Post’s Ben Golliver. “I don’t know who started the narrative but it’s completely run amok. I think it’s dehumanized some of us in terms of the way we prepare ourselves day to day. This is a 24/7 job.”
“Load management” refers to the practice of players sitting out games to rest. It has become a divisive topic in the NBA discourse, especially since superstar players are often the ones doing the load managing (to the detriment of fans who buy tickets to watch them play).
The practice arguably began with San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, who used to rest stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili during marquee games over a decade ago. But Irving’s comments would make you think that the media created the term “load management” to bash on players. That is not the case though. The first-known usage of the term in the NBA came in 2019 by a team (the LA Lakers) on an injury listing for (ironically) Irving’s ex-Cleveland co-star and close friend, LeBron James.
Injury Update from Detroit:
– LeBron James (load management, groin) is out.
– Josh Hart (right knee tendinitis) is questionable.
– Reggie Bullock (left foot contusion) and Lance Stephenson (left foot, second toe sprain) are probable.— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 15, 2019
Despite Irving’s complaints, load management is a very real problem that the NBA needs to address. Those comments are also pretty funny coming from Irving, a star player who has missed countless games over the last several years for reasons that have nothing to do with physical injury.
