With so many marquee names succumbing to postseason injuries, questions are being raised in regards to the league's scheduling.
Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love, and other notables have all missed time in the 2016 playoffs.
Does stuffing 82 games within a 170-day span really make sense? Players are exhausted and teams are resting players more than ever, so does the trade-off between supplying a high quantity of games outweigh the costs of injuries? Even Kobe Bryant, the toughest of competitors, said it's not.
A recent study by ESPN's Tom Haberstroh and Baxter Holmes found injuries are at a 20-year high. Moreover, there have been more than twice as many playoff man games lost in the last five years as compared to the previous five (217 vs. 112).
So should the NBA rethink its demanding schedule? Not a chance, according to Charles Oakley.
"We played 82 games no problem back in our era," Oakley said Wednesday on "The Jump" with Rachel Nichols.
"We didn't rest. We did back-to-backs. We flew regular flights. We used to get up at 4:30 in the morning to catch a 6:30 flight. We had to get our own bags, get on the plane, get to the airport, get our bags, put them on the bus, it was part of a real job, and I think these guys now, they got it easy," Oakley continued.
The beloved former New York Knick and Toronto Raptor added that today's players have to deal with grueling AAU training from an early age, and that burns them out, but the solution there is just to train smarter.
"It should be about the games. We're getting paid to play. You get your body ready in the offseason. It's a long haul, 82-game season, but everybody has to play," Oakley said.
Oakley retired at the age of 40 after logging 19 seasons. He played a full 82-game slate six times, appeared in every game of the lockout-shortened 1999 season, and played 12 years in which he logged 77 games or more.
Oakley: Today's NBAers have it easy, should play 82 games
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