On episode two of Insights to Excellence with Michael Jordan, he spoke about load management and how he would play through injuries and flu games for anyone and everyone that would come to the games to watch him. Here’s the full episode. The term load management has become such a hot button in the NBA. How I knew you were going to talk about that one because you played 80 games a lot.

 A lot. You played 82. What do you think of when you hear the term load management thrown around? Uh it’s well it shouldn’t be needed first and foremost. You know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was it was something that I felt like, you know, the fans are there to watch me play.

 I want to I want to impress that guy way up on top who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket or to get money to buy the ticket. Do you really cared about the guy who sat on the top deck at the Palace in Auburn Hills to watch you when you came to Detroit? Yeah, cuz I know he’s probably yelling at me. I want to shut him up.

 You know, he’s calling me all kinds of names. I I definitely want to shut him up. Right. You have a duty that if they’re wanting to see you and as an entertainer, I want to show, right? So, if the guys are coming to watch me play, I I don’t want to miss that opportunity. Now, physically, if I can’t do it, then I can’t do it.

 But physically, if I can do it and I just don’t feel like doing it, that’s a whole different lens. So, give me the first time that you came to that fork in the road in your career where you could have sat down and missed a game, but you fought through. Started my career. Okay. Um, I twist my ankle and I had a teammate. He says, “You twist your ankle, young fell, come over and sit with me. You know, this is you.

You need to I said, “No, man. I’m trying to make a name for myself. There’s no way I can sit. You know, I I need to get out there and show what I’m capable. I want to play. I want to win. I want to I want to I want to make an impact. And I twisted my ankle. I taped it up and I went back out and I played.

 I always felt that. I always felt the necessary need that I could never leave my comrades out if I could perform, right? Even if I couldn’t, you know, Utah, great example. You know, everybody says the game, it’s game five, which is a very pivotal game. I was gonna find a way to get out there even if I was a decoy.

 Well, once I got out there, you know, you never know how, you know, pushing yourself. You never know what happens, right? So, that night you got out there and you found you could do more than you thought you were going to be able to do. I I next thing you know, the emotions, the situation, the need of the team, you know, all those things catapulted me to I’m going to gut this thing out.

 You know, back to your point of what load management is is, you know, I have you play basketball 2 and a half hours a day, three hours a day, right? That’s your job. That’s what you get paid to do as an NBA player. What are you doing the other 21 hours? I mean, to me, that’s when you should prep be preparing for your next day of work or your next, you know, challenge. Now, I’m the worst.

 I maybe I’m not I’m not one of the guys that you would probably model that or, you know, I was going to say, did you do that every time, but you should think about that in in in retrospect of what load management really is. I always felt like the one is a sense of pride for the fans that are paying, right? Two is a sense of, you know, making sure that I stay sharp.

 You know, I’m not going to lose it. And three, I want our rhythm as a team to always be there. It can dis, you know, disrupt that synergy that’s happening. And out of the 15 seasons that MJ played, he played 80 plus in 11 of