Imagine being a Laker fan that lives in the San Antonio area. Or just a fan of the NBA, plunking down several hundred dollars for a couple of tickets to see the Lakers and the Spurs. 7-foot-3 inch rookie Victor Wenbamyama plays for San Antonio, but LeBron James sits out because he played the night before. Or Anthony Davis decides to skip a night to nurse a sore hip.

The Lakers played a rare two-game series in the Alamo city last week. Tuesday night, the Lakers lost a tough one in Dallas, and although the Spurs have one of the worst records in the league, the Lakers were not about to give it their all Wednesday and Friday. The Spurs went into Wednesday's game with a 3-19 record, so LA decided to rest the mega-millionaires.

James was in street clothes Wednesday night. Officially, he did not play because of a left calf contusion. Without him, the Lakers built a 20-point lead, but almost let it slip away. Los Angeles hung on to win 122-119. Wenbamyama amassed 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots, but the Spurs lost their 18th game in a row.

Friday night, James was back, but Lakers coach Darvin Ham elected to sit Anthony Davis. Davis' ailments might be a little more legitimate than James', but his injury was listed as an ankle problem instead of the sore hip that caused him to miss a game in Houston last month. Along with Davis, starters Cam Reddish (right knee soreness) and D'Angelo Russell (migrane) also sat out. The Spurs snapped their 18 game losing streak, beating LA 129-115.

During the off-season, the league acknowledge that 'load management' (resting healthy players) has become a problem. They've even instituted vague rules that require elite players to play, especially in a nationally televised game (Friday's game was on ESPN and James played, but he is said to be exempt from the rule because of his age). It's hard to play doctor in the media, and who knows the extent of the injuries and illnesses, but all were magically healed for tonight's home game, and no one sat out more than one contest.

This brings up the fair question of what coaches and players should do. James will be 39 in a couple of weeks, and is the oldest player in the NBA right now. Is sitting him out a night a crime? What about the ticket holders who scraped up hundreds of dollars hoping to see him? Why can't he start, play the first five or so minutes of each half, and then come out? That seems reasonable for the player, coaches, and fans.

In baseball, almost no one plays all 162 anymore, but even if a slugger gets a day off, there's still a chance he'll pinch-hit. Football players play if they are able, and the same thing with hockey players. Basketball, though, is the sport with the fewest players in a game at one time, and one player (like LeBron) can have a huge impact.

The other problem with what happened last week is how little the regular season means to the teams and players. Baseball is headed in this direction, but the Lakers went into San Antonio with their game plan to rest guys, knowing full well it meant they could lose. Maybe Reddish and Russell were game time decisions, and not part of the load management script, but surely James and Davis were. With a loss tonight at home against New York, the Lakers are 15-12, which is eighth in the Western Conference. Ten teams get in the post-season, so the Lakers figure a night off here for James and a night off there for Davis is worth the one road loss the team incurred on the trip. Let's be clear. The players who suited up wanted, and tried, to win. Even those on the bench were rooting their teammates on, but management thinks a rested player, even with a loss, is a benefit down the road.

This may not work, but how about making load management decisions more punitive? If you sit out one game, you have to sit out two. The league has also implemented standards for longer term injuries now that if a player misses a certain number of games, they are ineligible to win MVP or All-NBA honors. Or how about this? There are 82 games in a season. Make it so that no player can be in more than say, 75 games. Everyone has to miss seven games whether they want to or not. That would mean a 60-point Laker loss to the Spurs on the second night of a back-to-back, so forget that idea.

No one wants to see LeBron James in sweat pants on the sidelines one night, and recording a triple-double the next (he had one tonight against the Knicks). Anthony Davis looked good in his Dodger cap Friday night, but his 41 points and 20 rebounds in Las Vegas was really sharp.

Banner-iffic: There's been a little controversy over the Lakers raising a championship banner, commemorating their inaugural In-Season Tournament title. It looks different than the 17 championship banners, and it's been implied that if there are any future titles, the year would just be added to the one banner raised this evening. The tourney consisted of five regular-season games (two home, two road, and the semifinals in Las Vegas) and the championship game in Vegas, which did not count in the regular season standings.

Bowing to the power of the NFL: This was either done by contractual obligation, or it was the stupidest programming decision ESPN ever made. Today's live broadcast of the Famous Toastery Bowl started at 11am Pacific Time so it would not conflict with NFL Monday Night Football, but at 3pm, when the game between Western Kentucky and Old Dominion went into overtime, the network moved the conclusion of the game to ESPN2, in order to air Monday Night Countdown in its entirety. Yes, the game got bumped in favor of a two-hour pregame show! Sure, this is not the most important football game in the world, but you couldn't wait ten minutes for a pregame show? If viewers happened to record the game, they missed the end. This just proves that the all-sports network sold its soul to the National Football League devil, when they acquired Monday Night football in 2006.

Opposite directions?: For two consecutive Thursday nights, the Amazon Prime NFL broadcasts feature LA teams. This past Thursday, the Chargers were routed by the Raiders 63-21, and head coach Brandon Staley was fired the next day. This coming Thursday, the Rams host the New Orleans Saints, and now have a legit shot to make the playoffs. KTTV Channel 11 has both broadcasts, you don't have to pony up the money for the streaming service to see the games in the LA area. In a related note, NBC has announced that veteran sportscaster Al Michaels will not be doing any playoff games on the network next month, after criticism last year that he wasn't 'excited enough' when big plays happened. Michaels does the Thursday games on Amazon with ESPN/ABC's Kirk Herbstreit, and the 79 year-old legend seemed himself during last week's Charger debacle.

Reindeer games: This has nothing to with sports, but I did see it on TV. I watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer last week for the umpteenth time, but noticed something I hadn't noticed before. The animated claymation special is just as old as I am, and we're all familiar with the elf that wanted to be a dentist, the abominable snow monster, and Yukon Cornelius. We also learned that Rudolph is Donner's son, and Santa is bald, but did you know that Santa's sleigh is pulled by six reindeer, not eight. At the end of the one-hour special, in three different shots, you see the silhouette of Rudolph, and then three pair of reindeer taking off into the night sky. I've seen that special dozens of times and never noticed it before.