Silver doesn't 'buy into' load management being an NBA problem

SALT LAKE CITY — NBA commissioner Adam Silver pushed back on the notion that load management is a problem in today's NBA, saying «I don't buy into» the idea that players should simply just be playing more.

«I hesitate to weigh in on an issue as to whether players are playing enough because there is real medical data and scientific data about what's appropriate,» Silver said during his annual news conference before All-Star Saturday Night here at Vivint Arena. «Sometimes, to me, the premise of a question as to whether players are playing enough suggests that they should be playing more — that, in essence, there should be some notion of just get out there and play. Having been in the league for a long time, having spent time with a lot of some of our great legends, I don't necessarily think that's the case.»

«The world that we used to have where it was just, 'Get out there and play through injuries,' for example, I don't think that's appropriate. Clearly, I mean, at the end of the day, these are human beings — many of you talk to and know well — who are often playing through enormous pain, who play through all kinds of aches and pains on a regular basis,» he said.

«The suggestion I think that these men, in the case in the NBA, somehow should just be out there more for its own sake, I don't buy into.»

That said, in multiple answers during his half-hour media session Saturday night, Silver addressed the fact that fans have been frustrated this season with missing out on seeing superstar players in road markets because they've sat out, something that's happened throughout the campaign involving several different teams.

And he admitted, while it's something the league is discussing with the National Basketball Players