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Clippers Slack Chat: Kawhi Leonard resting shouldn’t upset everyone

By Ryan Snellings

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 6: Kawhi Leonard #2, and Paul George #13 of the LA Clippers look on during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 6, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 6: Kawhi Leonard #2, and Paul George #13 of the LA Clippers look on during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 6, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 31: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers is interviewed after the game against the San Antonio Spurs on October 31, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 31: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers is interviewed after the game against the San Antonio Spurs on October 31, 2019 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /

What is load management?

Ryan Snellings: With all the talk of Kawhi’s load management, I feel like there has been a lot of negativity towards him, the Clippers, and the NBA as a whole. Let’s start with general terms though. What is your definition of load management?

Cannon Wonderlich: To me, load management is what front offices call resting their stars to save their health.

Seth Kimbrell: I think a lot has been made of the phrase “load management” when really as Cannon said, it’s just resting. I mean, Coach Pop was doing that with Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili for a decade before we started calling it load management.

Cannon: And bad teams have done it for ages in order to get a better pick. Like when the Bulls sat LaVine and Markkanen for the last few weeks of last season.

Ryan: Is load management being used as too broad of a term? For Kawhi, the NBA deemed him “not a healthy player”. Is that more so load management then your aforementioned examples, which all seemed to be just healthy scratches for “rest”?

Cannon: Are you suggesting that this is different because Kawhi is actually injured?

Ryan: By league standards, it is. If he were a healthy scratch in last night’s nationally televised game, the Clippers should have been fined, right?

Seth: I think so. And we’re also seeing the same thing with the Spurs this season, right? Dejounte Murray isn’t playing back to backs as he rehabs his knee, and the Spurs aren’t getting into trouble there. This is a confusing situation because it seems like Kawhi will be load managing in perpetuity, rather than rehabbing a particular injury.

Cannon: If I recall, the Raptors didn’t pay many (if any) fines last season for doing the same thing.

Ryan: Bouncing off what you said Seth, I would argue he is rehabbing a particular injury. Back in 2018 when Kawhi was having issues with the Spurs, the team diagnosed his injury as quadriceps tendinopathy. The injury was described as “disease of the tendon that has a degenerative effect on the muscle by keeping it in a constant state of exhaustion.” I’ve seen elsewhere that his knee troubles are related to this.

Seth: Right. I guess I should say it’s starting to look like he isn’t rehabbing his way back into being a 75-80 game player. Instead, this is his way of making sure he’s healthy for the playoffs.

Cannon: If that is what he is still suffering from today, he should be able to sit whenever need be.

Ryan: Now, I’m not going to pretend to know medicine by any standard, but degenerative sounds like there’s no healing fully, right? In a post from the US National Library of Medicine (granted, this is from 2008), tendinopathy apparently doesn’t even have a cure. The opening abstract ends with “The ideal treatment for tendinopathy remains unclear.”

So why is it that his injury is documented by ESPN, said to not have a cure (outside of resting) and yet he’s being ridiculed by the same network for not playing?

Seth: That’s my understanding of it. Also not a doctor, but I’ve read it as an injury he’s just always going to deal with. Well, to answer your question, because that’s what brings in the ratings. People tune in to watch ESPN argue about this stuff.

Cannon: As a third non-doctor, I think load management critics aren’t as knowledgable on Kawhi’s situation.

Ryan: Probably not.

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