NBA owners can keep pretending that load management is a player character issue rather than a cry for relief. It showed its hand in 2023 when, instead of adopting a shorter schedule, it added a new in-season tournament that compressed it even more and inserted a 65-game rule that punishes athletes whose bodies break down amid the relentless grind of the most demanding basketball season on earth.
There is an alternate version of this incredible league. One in which the regular season is shorter and the playoffs are spaced more humanely. One informed by basic sports science, where the average game has a higher rate of superstar participation, where rest and recovery are respected, where stars like Doncic can properly recover from a calf strain without worrying about losing out on awards and millions of dollars. That version of the league would be smaller, but it would also have more superstars on the floor this time of year.
In the spring of 2026, the NBA is Euro-stepping its way to a tipping point, and unless it decelerates and pivots soon, it’s going to get hurt.
