On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Clippers will host the Milwaukee Bucks.
It will be one of two regular season games between the pair of NBA title hopefuls and features one of the game’s most anticipated one-on-one matchups between reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Except it won’t.
The Clippers have chosen to deprive fans of that matchup and will sit Leonard because of — you guessed it — load management. The team has already ruled him out.
With that, a once-exciting nationally televised game on ESPN has fizzled before tipoff.