The NBA isn’t what it used to be. At least, that’s what many older fans and players wholeheartedly believe. Despite players being more talented than ever, the product on the court has felt boring to many. A part of that has been superstars not being out there every night.
Players like Kawhi Leonard and Jimmy Butler have routinely missed regular season games due to “load management” over the past few years, with many others following in their footsteps. It has created a culture that doesn’t sit well with former players in particular. One of those players is Allen Iverson, an 11-time All-Star and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Allen Iverson doesn’t understand players being rested for regular season games
While speaking to Stephen A. Smith, Iverson spoke in-depth about his hatred for “load management”, which he attributes to teams as much as players. In his eyes, if a player needs time to rest, do it during practice instead of taking games off.
“Can you imagine somebody telling me, ‘We’re going to rest you tonight.’ What do you mean, rest me? It’s a game… You want to bring up the word practice? S**t, rest me tomorrow at practice. Don’t rest me when we got a game.“
That seems to be the difference between certain current players and those from Iverson’s playing days. Even regular season games were taken as extremely important by A.I. and co. That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
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