Fan Calls Out NBA Players' B.S. Excuses With 'Load Management Is A Rip Off' Sign At Lakers-Nets Game

Gone are the days when NBA players looked forward to playing the entirety of a season and had to be ruled out of a contest with an injury that had them bound to a wheelchair.

Today's NBA players are instead opting to not play in games at full health, opting for a "load management" excuse.

With "load management," players can claim that the accrued miles on their physique may be a danger to their late-season play.

Like any excuse that gets you out of work, the reasoning can spread among employees and be abused. And such is the problem in the NBA.

No Solution In Sight For 'Load Management' Problems

One fan in attendance at Barclays Center Monday night for the Brooklyn Nets versus Los Angeles Lakers game left a sign calling out the Lakers' load management plan after stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis sat the game out.

"Load equals Rip Off," the sign read, adding "Shorten the Season!"

Just imagine that fan's reality: shelling out hundreds of dollars, enduring a congested city trek and arriving at a game only to find out the stars they had hoped to watch after days, weeks or months of anticipation are not available to play.

The days of NBA fans attending games with full confidence to watch their favorite players on the floor has truly become a thing of the past.

Major Effects On The Way From Healthy Athletes Taking Days Off

With fans frequently getting swindled at the box office, it's becoming a painstaking issue for the Association to entice audiences to come watch games when healthy athletes are more interested in watching from the sideline — which will eventually pop up in the year-end receipts for teams and start hurting the right pockets.

As of now, the current effects on "load management" bodes ill for teams like the Lakers, whose 13th standing in the Western Conference doesn't afford LeBron or AD the luxury of taking any days off.

As for tickets and revenue, arenas have not been shy about hiking prices to meet their quotas as attendance numbers gradually fall for NBA games.

As reported by the New York Post, one anonymous source within the NBA has grown concerned with load management's long-term effects, noting that the Association and commissioner Adam Silver must keep healthy players from skipping games.

"I’d be wondering if this is a canary in a coal mine," the source said. “If I were Silver, I would be on the teams with the biggest attendance drops telling them it was unacceptable."

Hundred Of Dollars For A Cheap Game? No Thanks.

Teams like the Lakers and Golden State Warriors already boast average ticket prices of about $500; so why not just sit back in the comfort of your home, watch the B team play and save nearly half a grand instead of schlepping yourself or your family to a live game?

Like any sporting league, the NBA is a business that's reliant on its fans to attend or buy merchandise in order to not just continue the sport but continue paying the big-name athletes.

If players can't meet their end of the bargain and continue to fall short of requirements by failing to even play in these games, an effect is sure to follow. Fans grow disinterested; the money stops flowing; the desire for the game isn't as widespread.

It's almost become a joke how frequently All-Stars like Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Zion Williamson and Joel Embiid opt out of playing for the sake of "load management" without it ever culminating in a deep playoff run or NBA championship.

At this point, "load management" is nothing but a codename for pure laziness and privilege by the player.