The NBA world got another dose of Michael Jordan’s unfiltered opinions last night when the legendary Bulls icon sat down with NBC’s Mike Tirico for the second installment of the MJ: Insights to Excellence series. And as expected, Jordan didn’t mince words when the conversation turned toward load management, the modern-day practice of healthy players sitting out games to rest their bodies.
Jordan’s message was crystal clear, load management shouldn’t exist in the first place. It shouldn’t be needed, he said during the interview. I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was something that I felt like 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 or to get money to buy the ticket. This sentiment resonated with many fans, but it also sparked a deeper conversation that goes beyond Jordan’s personal philosophy about competition and duty to fans.
What many observers noticed while watching Jordan’s comments wasn’t just his competitive fire — it was the implicit question hanging in the air: what are these modern superstars doing outside of games that requires them to sit out so frequently?
The contrast becomes especially clear when you look at players like LeBron James, who in recent years has become synonymous with rest and recovery practices. Since the start or the 2020-2021 season, LeBron has missed 83 games, a stark figure when you consider that during his entire career before 2019, he played with remarkable consistency. In his first 17 seasons, James rarely missed more than 13 games in a single season, and he never missed a single playoff game. Yet despite all the load management, conditioning protocols, and recovery systems now in place, we’re seeing superstars dealing with more injuries than their predecessors.
Here’s where Jordan’s comments take on a different layer of meaning. When he talked about what happens in the other 21 hours, he was getting at something fundamental about modern player preparation. Jordan played two and a half to three hours of basketball daily during his playing career, and he felt the remaining 21 hours were when players should be preparing their bodies for the next day’s challenge. This is why we see a contrast today, where even with all the advanced training methods, sports science, and recovery tools available, elite players are dealing with recurring injuries.
The reality is that LeBron does have an incredibly regimented offseason routine. He works out five days a week when he’s locked in, engaging in lifting three days a week plus ball work and mobility training. During game days at home, his schedule includes cold plunges lasting 10 to 15 minutes, team shootaround, naps from noon to 2 p.m., specialized floor series work, and treatment sessions. By all accounts, LeBron is taking conditioning seriously. Yet the injury issues persist.
Could players today actually be doing less conditioning work outside of games despite having more time and better resources? Jordan’s criticism suggests that some modern players might be relying too heavily on load management and rest as a substitute for the kind of rigorous conditioning that used to be the norm. He made a distinction that’s worth considering, Physically, if I can do it and I just don’t feel like doing it, that’s a whole different lens. In other words, there’s a difference between sitting out because you’re truly injured and sitting out because you want to feel fresh.
The frustrating pattern emerges when you examine how often we see stars like LeBron James dealing with ankle sprains, high ankle sprains, and other injuries that historically weren’t career-altering for previous generations of players. LeBron’s most serious setback came in 2020-2021 with a high ankle sprain that kept him out for 37 games. He was then rested for additional games in subsequent seasons, missing 27 games in 2021-2022 and 26 more in 2022-2023. This pattern of missed time seems to contradict the idea that load management actually prevents injuries.
Research from a 2024 NBA study sent to all teams actually supports this skepticism. After examining 10 years of NBA data, the NBA found no link between load-managed players and a decreased risk of injury. The researchers who conducted the analysis — Dr. John DiFiori, Dr. Christina Mack, and Dr. Mackenzie Herzog — noted that other factors like previous injury history, previous surgery, and age seemed to play bigger roles. In other words, simply resting players doesn’t necessarily keep them healthier.
Here’s the thing, folks: What Jordan’s perspective suggests is that maybe the issue isn’t with the intensity of games themselves, but with how players are preparing between games. If you’re getting 21 hours off the court, the question becomes: what are you doing with that time? Are you engaging in the kind of preventative conditioning that keeps your body resilient? Or are you counting on rest days and recovery tools to do the heavy lifting?
With that… The irony is sharp. Players have never had access to better technology, better trainers, better nutrition science, or better recovery tools. Yet they’re also dealing with more injuries and more load management than ever before. Jordan’s criticism cuts through the noise by pointing out that maybe all these modern conveniences are becoming an excuse rather than a supplement to genuine conditioning work.
If you cannot play with them, them maybe you should not root for them either.