Becky Hammon defends load-managing her Aces stars during national TV game

Load management has officially made its way into the WNBA.

The Las Vegas Aces announced ahead of Sunday’s game against the New York Liberty that they would be resting their star trio of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. This was despite the fact that the game at Barclays Centers in Brooklyn, N.Y. was nationally televised on ESPN and ABC.

Speaking with reporters before the game, Aces head coach Becky Hammon was asked about the decision to rest the team’s stars for Sunday’s marquee matchup. Hammon responded with an animated defense of the move, which she said was schedule-based.

“Everybody has a brutal schedule at some point,” said Hammon, per WNBA reporter Myles Ehrlich.” I don’t even think they do this in the NBA though, where it’s less than 24 hours. You can check, and I’m pretty sure that’s not even legal on the NBA side.

“We’re going to always err on the side of health and safety for our players,” Hammon continued. “Not going to put them in any kind of jeopardy to get hurt when we’ve been expending a lot of energy and traveling a lot of miles back and forth, criss-crossing the country. So it is what it is. I know these are big matchups, and these are what people want to see. But you should ensure that it’s fair.”

Indeed, the Aces played on Saturday against the Minnesota Lynx at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. in a 10 AM tip-off (losing by a final score of 98-87). They then played against the Liberty in New York on Sunday in a 9:30 AM tip-off, marking less than 24 hours between start times.

Las Vegas is the reigning WNBA champions, and they also currently have the third-best record in the league this season at 22-11. But on Sunday without the four-time league MVP Wilson, the six-time WNBA All-Star Gray, and the five-time WNBA All-Star Young, the Aces got demolished by the Liberty and lost in a 111-71 laugher.

Hammon did used to serve as an assistant coach in the NBA from 2014-21, but there are actually certain instances of NBA teams having two tip-offs in less than 24 hours during back-to-back sets. That said, Hammon was notably an assistant for the San Antonio Spurs under their then-head coach Gregg Popovich, who arguably pioneered the whole practice of load management in the NBA.