After another season in which NBA stars took nights off to rest during nationally televised games, the NBA made several changes to their schedule in an effort to give players more rest in between games.
Prior to the changes, many pointed to stars in previous generations who never took games off just to rest. Others, like Bill Simmons, argued that today’s game is a lot more taxing on the body for a number of reasons.
No matter the reason or the merits for most, for LeBron James, it seems like he has earned an occasional night off. James is only 32, and yet he has already surpassed Michael Jordan in terms of minutes played in their entire careers, including the playoffs. James entered the 2017-18 season at 50,399 minutes played, nearly 2,000 more than MJ’s entire career.
Of course, James started his career at a younger age and Jordan had already retired once by age 32. However, those factors may also explain why Jordan was still able to play all 82 regular-season games into his mid-30s.