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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Zeglinski

Kawhi Leonard ironically didn’t know about the NBA’s new load management policies

Kawhi Leonard NBA Clippers

This season, the NBA will go all in to prevent the now infamous “load management” many teams utilize. Among the more notable tidbits, a new policy dictates that organizations are no longer allowed to rest more than one “star” player per game. Furthermore, they can’t just shut players down anymore without an apparent injury that has been approved.

When the Los Angeles Clippers held their media day on Monday, these policies were news to Kawhi Leonard — the Clippers’ talisman superstar. In his time away from the league and the Clippers, he legitimately did not know that the NBA was instituting new rules centered around managing player rest. To some, this was just classic Leonard, being hilariously stoic and oblivious to everything that doesn’t really matter to him on the court.

But there’s more here for a star many might consider the leading catalyst toward instituting these very policies.

Once someone explained the new rules to Leonard, he theorized that the league could be targeting him. The superstar famously once had a falling out with the San Antonio Spurs related to his health and playing time. And while he did tear an ACL during the 2021 campaign, Leonard hasn’t played more than 60 games in a regular season since 2016.

Naturally, Leonard said that no policy will keep him on the court more if he’s not healthy. Phew:

The start of the 2023 NBA regular season is in a little over three weeks. We likely won’t see what effect these load management-adjacent policies will have until we’re deeper into the league’s calendar.

But if someone like Leonard already has this kind of passionate reaction to them (by his standards, anyway), the NBA is probably holding its breath.

This is how Twitter reacted

 

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