As Raptors face Kawhi Leonard for 1st time since Finals win, load management is a hot topic again
He'll play.
At least that's what should be expected of Kawhi Leonard when the Los Angeles Clippers host the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center on Monday night.
The load management strategy is still very much in effect, but Leonard will have had three full days of rest ahead of the first meeting between the reigning NBA champions and the Finals MVP who led the team there.
While load management is now a household term for NBA enthusiasts, it was just last season that sports-science guru Alex McKechnie unleashed it in Toronto.
Now promoted to vice-president of player health and performance with the Raptors, McKechnie devised a plan to keep Leonard fresh and allow him to be in peak form for the playoffs after appearing in all but nine games the previous season due to injury.
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Apparently this plan followed Leonard in free agency to his hometown Clippers.
Just last week, the Clippers held Leonard out of a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. Predictably, this didn't sit well with fans and media who were hoping to see Leonard go toe-to-toe with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The widespread disdain for the Clippers' decision to sit Leonard against Milwaukee also took into account that Leonard would instead play the next night in a less-hyped tilt with the Portland Trail Blazers.
ESPN analyst Doris Burke did not mince words when she was asked to weigh in on the load management phenomenon.
"It is mind-boggling to me that Kawhi doesn't want to play against the reigning MVP and he'd rather play against Portland on TNT," Burke said.
Burke acknowledged the thinking behind the strategy, but also sees this as a bad look for the league.
"The Clippers obviously have a responsibility to Kawhi and to winning and to long term," Burke said. "But the league also I believe is and should be concerned that their best players are not playing on nights when they are on national television."
California love
Leonard, 28, is very much the player Raptors fans remember from the championship run when he appeared in 60 of 82 regular-season games.
Through seven games this season, Leonard is averaging a career-high 29 points per game, while logging fewer minutes this season, down from 34 in 2018-19 to 30.9 per game.
Andrew Greif, a Clippers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, has been impressed by the all-star forward so far.
"He's been as advertised," Greif told CBC Sports. "A strong defender and an at-times unstoppable scorer. We knew all that, before, of course, with his performance in last season's playoffs the most forceful example yet of his ability to influence the game on both ends. But his ability to get to his 'spots' offensively is something I didn't appreciate until I began watching him live, night-in and night-out."
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However, Leonard is carrying a considerable amount of the load despite the decrease in minutes as his usage percentage (plays that result in a field-goal attempt, free-throw attempt or turnover) has sky-rocketed to 39.5 per cent (league-average usage is 20 per cent), trailing only James Harden in that category.
The Clippers, who have dropped a pair of games without Leonard, don't appear to be hitting the panic button, especially with fellow all-star Paul George expected to make his debut in the coming weeks.
The Clippers abide, mostly
There is also no sign of the Clippers caving to the cries of fans and media to ditch load management.
At this point, there is really no reason to as the league has approved the process as was made evident prior to the Clippers' 129-124 loss to Milwaukee.
"Kawhi Leonard is not a healthy player under the league's resting policy," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement on Nov 6. "And, as such, is listed as managing a knee injury in the Clippers injury report. The league office, in consultation with the NBA's director of sports medicine is comfortable with the team medical staff's determination that Leonard is not sufficiently healthy to play in back-to-back games at this time."
In a strange twist, the Clippers were fined $50,000 US the following day because coach Doc Rivers said Leonard was "healthy" after the NBA had confirmed Leonard's load management for injury was consistent with league rules.
For now, the Clippers will continue to keep us guessing regarding Leonard's availability for back-to-backs.
"I understand the frustration from fans, especially those who've paid for tickets and might not be able to watch another Clippers game live this season," Greif said. "But to paraphrase Clippers coach Doc Rivers' counter-argument from [earlier this season]: Clippers fans might be upset in the short-term, but long-term, they will cheer if the strategy pays off with a championship."
