Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards sparked another conversation about load management in the NBA when he made a pointed criticism during All-Star Weekend.
“Excessive” player rest has been an underlying issue for the NBA for a while now, as the league has tried to devise ways to incentivize players not to take so much time off.
While everyone has different situations with different contexts, with stars like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving playing in roughly only half of their games over the last four years, it doesn’t seem like this problem is going away any time soon.
That is why a recent comment on the subject from Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons felt so disingenuous. Parsons plays professional football and not professional basketball, yet he nevertheless still made sure to note he won’t “miss games.”
I don’t miss games simply because you never know when your last game will be! Life so unpredictable . If I can breathe you’ll see number 11 with star on his helmet every Sunday! You only get 1 shot at this opportunity and someone is always coming to replace you! https://t.co/VjptOdYwWz
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) February 21, 2023
The NFL doesn’t have its own “load management” issue with superstars voluntarily sitting out games.
I genuinely can’t remember the last time a name as big as Durant or Irving in the NFL didn’t play because they just wanted to rest. So I’m not sure why Parsons felt the need to clarify his situation as if what’s happening in the NFL and NBA is remotely similar.
Meanwhile, because most NFL players do not have fully guaranteed contracts, they can’t sit out games and potentially eat a massive fine from their franchise. There are limitations to their choices.
Additionally, basketball is less violent than football, and NFL players only have 17 games over 17 weeks (playoffs not included) on the schedule. For comparison, the regular season in the NBA extends for around 24 weeks and several games are played per week.
I get the sense that Parsons understands this vital distinction. The only remaining assumption I’ll make is that he just wanted to defend his personal pride in trying to play in every game.
Fine. More power to him. But about that: While it was certainly understandable due to COVID-19 concerns, this is the same player who opted out of the 2020 college football season with Penn State.
So, while he professes he’d never miss a game now, Parsons has a past precedent of voluntarily sitting some out. Go figure.
This is how Twitter reacted to Parsons' response to Edwards' NBA load management thoughts
Micah parsons sat his entire last year at Penn state just an fyi https://t.co/cUjnFNdiEf
— Greigh (@therealgreigh) February 21, 2023
What NFL players are taking games off for rest during the season? Lol https://t.co/uHA8jp5fTQ
— j-weez (@jordan_weiss25) February 21, 2023
Micah loves wedging himself into situations that don’t apply. There isn’t a load management issue in the nfl https://t.co/qhIEx2YbU0
— Chris Topher (@chriswcaron) February 21, 2023
You don’t play 82 games and multiple games in a week Micah this is not the same at all let these NBA players tussle amongst themselves. https://t.co/OS1LzAVUeM
— Chelllllsss (@ChelsIsRight) February 21, 2023
To be fair, you can’t just “sit out” a football game since every game is so much more important. https://t.co/rd9obnkO0x
— Nick (@keepthefaeth14) February 21, 2023
Also important to acknowledge that football has less than a quarter of the games of a basketball season and missing one for “load management” could DRASTICALLY impact your playoff chances. If football had even a 30 game season you’d 100000% see players take games off. https://t.co/Fho4LBneBO
— OG Showtime (@Prayxyz) February 21, 2023
https://t.co/7BJw5k6UU4 pic.twitter.com/xmSeA5Dx6G
— Andrew Diaz (@freshlegsdiaz) February 21, 2023
Pretty sure you literally sat out your whole last year at penn st. But good point https://t.co/aedfmYpOch
— Jacob Saenz🤘🏽🐂 (@Jacob_saenz25) February 21, 2023
Cowboys do load management during the playoffs. Either they don’t make it or they exit very early! https://t.co/V59ubIeuuJ
— Avery P. Rucker (@ruck18) February 21, 2023
