Hornets minority owner Michael Jordan rips load management in the NBA

“You know, I never wanted to miss a game ... because it was an opportunity to prove (myself) … I want to impress that guy way up on top, who probably worked his (expletive) off to get a ticket, or to get money to buy the ticket.”

“You have a duty (as a player), that if they're wanting to see you … I don't want to miss that opportunity,” Jordan continued. “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.”

Desperate to make a name for himself, MJ played through an ankle injury in his first season

Tirico then asked Jordan to detail the first time — in his own playing career — that he ignored what modern basketball minds would refer to as load management.

“Start of my career, I twist my ankle,” Jordan said. “And I had a teammate. He says, '(You) twisted your ankle, young fella. Come over and sit with me (on the bench.’ I said, 'No, man, I'm trying to make a name for myself. There's no way I can sit.’”

“You know, I (needed) to get out there and show what I'm capable of,” Jordan continued. “I taped it up, and I went back out, and I played.”

Jordan also talked about how he didn’t like missing games because he didn’t like the feeling of leaving his teammates out there without him, something that contributed to him showing up and playing through the famous “flu game” against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals. 

“I always felt … that I could never leave my comrades out (there) if I could perform,” Jordan told Tirico. “I was going to find a way to get out there, even if I was a decoy.”

At the end of the day, Jordan’s words on load management are one thing, but he has the career durability to back it up, which is even more powerful. The critics will tee off about Jordan’s two retirements, but when he was an active NBA player, he played in almost every single possible game, unless he couldn’t walk due to injury (like when he broke his foot during his second season).

Take a quick look at MJ’s games played through his career, and compare this with the load-managed stars of today.

1984-85: 82 games played
1985-86: 18 games played (broken foot)
1986-87: 82 games played
1987-88: 82 games played
1988-89: 81 games played
1989-90: 82 games played
1990-91: 82 games played
1991-92: 80 games played
1992-93: 78 games played
1993-94: (retired/baseball)
1994-95: 17 games played (unretired late in season)
1995-96: 82 games played
1996-97: 82 games played
1997-98: 82 games played
1998-2001 (retired)
2001-02: 60 games played
2002-03: 82 games played

Yes, even at age 39, in his final NBA season with the Washington Wizards, Michael Jordan played in all 82 games. Enough said.

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