Less than an hour before the Milwaukee Bucks‘ 120-110 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday — one of two scheduled meetings between the teams this season — the Bucks announced that Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had been listed as probable, would not play due to left knee soreness.
This was not a case of load management. Late in the Bucks’ win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday, Mikal Bridges crashed into Antetokounmpo’s knee. The incident didn’t draw much attention because the game was effectively over at that point, but it left the two-time MVP in real pain. Antetokounmpo arrived Thursday with the intention of playing, but was scratched after going through his pregame routine.
Even though Antetokounmpo had a real injury, the late nature of the decision frustrated fans, both in the arena and around the country, who would miss one of the few opportunities to see Antetokounmpo play against Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler. That the game ended up being fun (and a 10-point Bucks win) anyway was beside the point.
The Bucks’ decision to play it safe with Antetokounmpo highlighted the impossible balance teams must try to find between protecting the product on a night-to-night basis and keeping their players as healthy as possible for the playoffs. Could Antetokounmpo have played on Thursday? Yes. Would it have been a wise decision for his long-term health? No.
Early in the season, the debate about how teams handle injury reports and load management has been reignited by the gambling scandal that has rocked the league and rare comments from Michael Jordan.
Jordan, who has rarely given interviews since his thid and final retirement in 2003, has joined NBC this season as a special contributor. In his most recent “Insights to Excellence” segment, he gave his thoughts on load management and said that players have a “duty” to fans to be available.
“It shouldn’t be needed, first and foremost,” Jordan said. “You know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove — it was something that I felt like, you know, the fans are there that 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.”
“You have a duty that if they’re wanting to see you and as an entertainer, I want to show, right?” Jordan continued. “So if the guys are coming to watch me play, I don’t want to miss that opportunity. Physically, if I can’t do it, then I can’t do it. But physically, if I can do it and I just don’t feel like doing it, that’s a whole different lens.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who won three titles with Jordan on the Chicago Bulls, and has been in the Bucks’ position many times in recent years with his aging team, was asked for his thoughts prior to Thursday’s game. He explained why the conversation is more complicated now than when he and Jordan were playing.
“The speed at which people are playing and the 3-point shooting, having to cover out to 30 feet, close out to 30 feet. We didn’t have to do that 20 years ago. You closed out to about 18 feet. There might have been one or two guys who could shoot 3s and you had to close out to them,” Kerr said. “The data all backs this stuff up. Our players are running faster and further than ever before, and then you look at the schedule, playing 82 games and the manner in which we play them. Fewer back-to-backs, but we basically play almost every other night now. To ask our players to sprint, full-court pressure — either dealing with it or applying it — racing out to the 3-point line, covering 3-point shooters and playing at this tempo is dramatically different from what it was 20 years ago.”
Kerr acknowledged that fans, who put real time and money into supporting their favorite teams and players, often aren’t interested in that explanation.
“The tricky part is obvious. We’ve had a lot of games over the years where we have a really rough trip and we sit Steph, and I get an email, [Warriors PR lead] Raymond [Ridder] gets an email, from a fan that says I just spent $2,000 on a trip here for tickets and plane ride and hotel and Steph doesn’t play, and we genuinely feel terrible. We want our fans to be able to enjoy watching Steph play. We all know what the only real answer is and that is to shorten the season. Good luck.”
The game is faster and more physically demanding than ever before, and the the risk involved in asking a player to push the envelope with their health — whether it’s a load management night or fighting through a minor injury like Antetokounmpo’s — is also greater than ever.
The same fans who are rightfully upset when a player misses a game during the regular season would also be devastated if they suffered a serious injury and missed the playoffs. No one understands that better than Bucks fans, who were without Antetokounmpo for the 2024 playoffs and Damian Lillard for most of the 2025 playoffs.
The league, especially after inking a $76 billion broadcast rights deal, is almost certainly not going to shorten the season. In lieu of that there is no good answer to the never-ending debate about player availability.
