The Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets in five games after losing Monday night’s Game 5. There are many reasons the Lakers lost the series (most of them start with “Jamal Murray”) but a franchise legend believes there was one reason above all for the early playoff exit— load management.
Yes, you read that right. Magic Johnson made the case that the Lakers are going home early because of load management down the stretch of the season, a thought he expressed on X, as he is wont to do. The primary reasoning was that they could have avoided the Nuggets in the first round if they had posted a better regular season record.
The problem with this logic is that the Lakers didn’t really load manage this season as we’ve come to understand the concept. LeBron James was dealing with a nagging ankle injury for much of the year post-All Star break but he only missed three games after March 1. Anthony Davis only missed two games in that same time period. One came against the Golden State Warriors, a fellow play-in team, but Davis wasn’t out for rest, he was forced to sit because he took a shot to the head the previous evening.
There are many times where NBA teams can and should be criticized for prioritizing load management over winning games. This was not one of those times. Six different Lakers played over 70 games this season. Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt were both seriously injured for most of the year. Los Angeles was plagued with many other problems but load management, objectively, was not one of them.
Johnson, predictably, was roasted for his take.
Load management or no, the Lakers are done for the season and major changes appear on the horizon.
