Michael Jordan Despised “Load Management”, According to Former Bulls Team Doctor

We saw a lot of the good, and maybe some of the bad, of Michael Jordan in the “Last Dance.” From his rumored gambling addiction to the “flu game,” Jordan’s iconic career was detailed more in-depth than it ever had been previously on the critically acclaimed ESPN 30 for 30 documentary.

One story we didn’t hear about, though, was that of a former Bulls team doctor named Michael Lewis who had this to say about Michael Jordan on WGN Radio,

“One night, 10 minutes before a game, he had such severe neck pain that he could not move his neck in any direction. So I suggested he not play that night and he looked at me like I was crazy. He said, ‘fans have come from hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away to see me play and I’m not going to disappoint them.'”

This is a far cry from the NBA we see today and a big “fuck you” to “load management.” We literally saw Paul George and Kawhi Leonard play, like, only 15 games together for the Clippers due to load management/rest for minor injury this year and you can see why the NBA has made it a point of emphasis to try and eliminate that from the game in order to serve the best interests of their fans each and every game.

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Remarkably, Michael Jordan was on the court almost every chance he got during his Bulls career. In 1985-86, M.J. only played 18 games due to a broken foot. From that point forward, and not counting his ’94-’95 return from baseball, Jordan missed a grand total of seven regular season games in 11 seasons with the Bulls. SEVEN! That’s generally the amount of games Anthony Davis misses in like two weeks.

We can look back and point out all the tremendous differences between ’90s basketball and today’s game — the rise of the 3-point shot, hand checking, toughness/hard fouls, — but there really is no bigger difference than this Michael Jordan mentality right here.

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