Michael Jordan predicted load management era due to the "lack of ideal players could relate to"

Michael Jordan talked about load management way before it even existed.

MJ predicted it

The Chicago Bulls legend predicted today's NBA injury climate in his book "Driven from Within," published in 2005.

"You can hear about how somebody played, or read about the best way to achieve success, but people need to set examples. Until they see, they won't do. It's easy to talk about what Jerry West did, but it's not easy to see what he did. Tomorrow's kids are going to have to see someone playing hurt, see someone practicing the day after winning a championship," MJ stated.

"We have to provide examples so they can relate to that ideal. Otherwise, they will get bad habits. If we lose that gap, then it starts to fade away, and 20 years from now, you will never see someone play sick or get out on the floor with a sore ankle," Jordan added.

Michael was a durable player

MJ played all 82 games in nine of his 15 seasons in the NBA and didn't miss a game from March 1995 to June 1998.

Jordan pushed through the pain often, like in the famous "Flu Game" in the 1997 NBA Finals when he played Game 5 in Utah despite being sick. He currently owns the Hornets, and he sets the tone in Charlotte.

"Our guys aren't used to sitting on the second game of a back-to-back.… We're not sitting guys just to sit," Steve Clifford said. "For me, my background frankly, it all goes back to expectations. Being with Michael in Charlotte, Michael used to tell them every year, you're paid to play 82 games," added the former Hornets head coach.

Today's players simply aren't as determined to make sure they play every single night. Jordan was. He averaged 38.3 minutes per game in his career and played all 82 games in nine of his 15 seasons with the Bulls.

But none of MJ's numerous accomplishments in his legendary career would be possible if he didn't have the conditioning and the willpower to play through pain.