Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo believes that NBA players that are participating in load management are letting down parents and kids that come to see their games.
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Load management has been a major conversation in the NBA, especially when star players take nights off to preserve themselves for later in the season.
While it certainly doesn’t benefit fans who come to watch the games like Adebayo mentioned, some players are doing it to extend their careers or help their teams in the playoffs.
The 82-game NBA regular season can be a grind, and sometimes players need to take nights off in order to help their teams compete for an NBA title.
Adebayo, who has dealt with injuries in his career, played in 75 games in the 2022-23 season. However, he was limited to just 56 games in the 2021-22 season.
It seems like the Heat big man is making a statement that healthy players should always be on the floor, but it seems unlikely that load management will go away in the near future.
Instead of playing consecutive games on consecutive days, some players take the second or first game off to limit the impact on their bodies.
There is no easy fix, but if load management were to go away, it certainly would help fans get the full experience when they attend games.
Adebayo and the Heat are hoping to give their fans a ton to cheer about in the 2023-24 season after making the NBA Finals last season.
The former first-round pick made his second career All-Star team last season and is one of the best centers in the NBA. He averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per game last season.
The Heat certainly should be in the conversation to be one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Adebayo recently demanded that the team get more respect since it’s made the NBA Finals in two of the last four seasons.
The Heat have had some pretty low seeds over that four-season stretch, but they always seem to show up in the playoffs.
Hopefully for Heat fans, they won’t have to worry about Adebayo taking any extra days off during the 2023-24 campaign.
