Earlier in the week, news broke that the NBA would be stiffening its policies against stars missing games for rest. Wednesday, the rules were approved, and Adam Silver is clearly looking to dial back the load management movement and make sure more of the league’s best players are on the floor more often.
Among the rules: For teams with two “stars” (defined as All-NBA or All-Star over the last three seasons), only one is allowed to miss a game in a night due to rest. Those games shouldn’t be national TV games, or in the mid-season tournament, and preferably not on the road, either. And for teams that might be trying to either tank or move disgruntled stars? The NBA will be paying a lot more attention to that, too. Those guys need to be on the floor, barring injury. (Though, perhaps, not “injury.”)
How the league enforces all this is hard to say, but for the Lakers, there are obvious implications for LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two players who certainly will need to be maintained throughout the year. Then again, the league built in a type of grandfather clause for older players, where they can, with some heads up, to the NBA receive permission for scheduled rest days.
That could be important.
It’ll be interesting to see how these new rules, combined with the higher standards of games required to be eligible for postseason awards, tilt things in the league. Will guys play more? Does it matter the Lakers have two stars, but the Nuggets (seen as the favorite in the West) only have one? Where will these new tweaks have an influence on the standings in what’s expected to be a tight Western Conference race?
Finally, we were asked to dive into the schedule again by a viewer on the YouTube channel, so that’s where we head for the final segment. It’s a very, very different deal this year for the Lakers than the last two, with potential implications and challenges that haven’t been as acute in years past.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: The NBA hands down it’s anti-rest rules.
SEGMENT 2: How much will the new rules impact the Lakers, LeBron and AD?
SEGMENT 3: How the schedule isn’t so cooperative this year for the Lakers.
Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Jase Medical
Save more than $360 by getting these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical plus an additional $20 off by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.
Ibotta
Right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code locked when you register. Just go to the App Store or Google Play store and download the FREE Ibotta app and use code LOCKED.
FanDuel
This episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, Official Sportsbook of Locked On. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.
FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)
Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOLakers?sid=YouTube
Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA
Subscribe to the Locked On Lakers Podcast
📲 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnLakers
📲 Follow the Kamenetzkys: https://twitter.com/KamBrothers
#Lakers #LosAngelesLakers #LebronJames #AnthonyDavis #NBA
17 Comments
Bron is one of the few players who actually deserve that ish. He shouldve utilized it before but hes cut from a different cloth.
How will the league enforce the “rules” for load management is what I’m wondering. Will the NBA investigate each time a team sits their stars and need “proof” that a player is really hurt? Their medical staff can just say they are hurt. To me it’s a slap in the face. What’s 1 million dollars to Steve Balmer 😂. Marc Cuban is probably laughing at his fine from last year for his tank job.
This reminds me of the unwritten work rule – can't take off on Mondays and Friday and days after a holiday or 3 days straight without a doctors note – Im sure teams will be generating medical exceptions AD can't do back to backs and there are a few of those
If you really think about it this kids are playing more basketball than ever before since the very early 2000 which put more wear and tear on your body. For an example, just look at the Ball Brothers storyline growing up and now how they look physical in the NBA. 🤷
They can still do load management if they just play 5 minutes. Then take them out
With Rui playing 30+ mins LBJ can reduce playing time to 30-35mins…. same thing with the C Wood addition, Davis can play less…. time to get STRICT about playing time. TRUST in the depth, dont wanna see Bron playing 45mins on a Wed in Nov!!! 🙀🙀🙀
Can you lower the intro music goddamn
Peace – Enjoy the 3 day weekend.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on the schedule, particularly on the first 21 games, with the challenging road trips and home matchups.
It sounds like rest might be more of a consideration than last season (if they can stay fit enough to be rested), with more back to backs than most other teams. Ironic, as the league bring in the new rules on stars missing games.
Hopefully all those games against teams touted for the playoffs means an easier run in at the other end of the season. Maybe the new load management rules will come into play if the Lakers secure a playoff birth early (wouldn't that be nice).
Yes, this is the Leonard and George issue. AD has been on the floor more than those two players.
I think this is a bit ridiculous and I DO think it matters to the Lakers.
Look at how many games Jokic and Murray played towards the end of the regular season. According to Basketball Reference Jokic only played 2 of the last 7 games and Murray played 3 of the last 6. Contrast that with the position the Lakers were in having to scrape and claw for every win. Could that have made an impact to the Western Conference Finals? I’m not trying to argue with what Denver did here. They’d earned the right to rest their players by getting wins on the board. If the Lakers are in a similar position this season, I for one would be arguing for resting players.
There are many things about the schedule that make it uneven. You detailed many of them in your podcast: number of back to backs; miles travelled; rest deficit. These are all things that are pretty unavoidable and I like to think that The League does their best to be as fair to each team as they can. But this rule adds additional, unnecessary unfairness based on the number of nationally televised games and star players a team has. If you’re allowed 15 players on a roster, what business is it of The League’s which players are selected by Darvin Ham?
It’s just a really sloppy way of tackling a perceived problem when in fact they’re actually addressing a symptom rather than the problem. To my knowledge no one rests players in the NFL presumably because the games are more spread out and matter too much. So why not look at it that way? Perhaps you could elongate the season to avoid so many back to backs and build in more time for rest. If you want to address tanking stop insentivising teams from doing so with draft picks.
To be introducing this in the same season as the in-season tournament (about which no one cares) is ridiculous when it’s the thing that has caused there to be more back to backs than previous years. Let’s start by getting rid of that.
I genuinely hope that some team decides not to care about this and pay the fine. Furthermore, I’d love to see a contender qualify for the latter stages of the in-season tournament and play their G League roster. As someone who grew up watching European soccer (of which this is supposed to be some sort of facsimile) it’s seeming sillier and sillier all the time.
How much did LeBron actually “load manage” last season. He was injured for an extended stretch and missed a bunch of games. Then he got injured again.
Time lost to injury is not load management.
Kawhi doesn't qualify for the old man exception and that's coming back to bite from the ridiculous load management he's enjoyed all his career. And yes, I acknowledge he's had legit injuries.
Brian is consistent in interrupting Andy when he talks. Why do you even have Andy on here?
I think its also about shutting your players down before the end of the regular season
I'm telling you all that it's what Denver did last season. They sat almost their whole starting 5, 3/5. Did it right before the playoffs. I remember it because you two were joking about because it affected our play-in.
As much you two like to pin this on Kawhi. He's actually been too hurt to load manage. When he 1st got there yes. But what Denver did was show them how out of control it was getting.