Los Angeles Lakers: How a budding LA Clippers feud can save NBA season

Load management started out like trash, but if this rivalry starts, it can turn into a treasure for the NBA! 

Load management will be a hot topic in the NBA throughout the year. Get used to it. Every story going forward will be linked to the most controversial issue in the NBA.

After Kawhi Leonard sat out a nationally televised game for two consecutive weeks early in the season, let’s just say Doris Burke along with some ESPN personalities did not hide their discontent.

Like it or not, the plan works for him. Leonard once again will play around 60 regular-season games. Back to back games? He hasn’t done it in the regular season since 2017, let that ship sail.

But after a season winning last year’s Finals MVP, Leonard is averaging career-highs in points, rebounds, and assists per 36 minutes. Throw in the fact that Kawhi posts the highest usage rate of his career, the Clippers get major production no matter if Paul George is on the floor or not.

Plus the Los Angeles Clippers have no issues with a part-time Kawhi just as long as he shows up in the big games. He did on Christmas Day in front of a national TV audience.

Kawhi Leonard is coming for LeBron James as the unofficial “undisputed best player on the planet” title. With past injuries, he figured a system that works for him. But what former teammate, Kyle Anderson of the Memphis Grizzlies states via Bleacher Report sums it up.

"“When you had a guy like LeBron come in [to town], you could tell Kawhi wanted to make a name for himself and show the world he was up there [with James],” Anderson says. “I would’ve been shocked if he went to the Lakers. I don’t take him for the kind of guy who wants to play with the best; he wants to prove he’s the best. If there’s anybody in the league ready to step up to LeBron, it’s Kawhi.”"

But LeBron James is connected in ways past the basketball court. Let’s see how the load management affects him.