I just came back from vacation, where I was talking to my cousins who are about to enter high school next year. They both play sports, and one of them plays basketball. Their AAU season has been going since the end of January and, to my surprise, when I asked how many games they thought they’d played, the answer was about 70.
That’s just shy of an NBA regular season.
I’m not trying to sound like an old man — even if I did just turn 30 — but the amount of games these kids are playing needs to be looked at.
I understand that basketball, more specifically the AAU scene, has changed drastically since I graduated high school in 2014. But this volume of games cannot be good for kids.
AAU is more important than ever when it comes to college recruiting — much more so than even a decade ago. But the wear and tear on these players is adding up. I remember when NBA teams first started resting players for “load management.” I laughed at the idea that someone getting paid millions of dollars needed a night off.
But now, I get it. A lot of these professional athletes — in both the NBA and WNBA — have been logging heavy minutes since middle school. Of course they need rest.
Tournament culture, especially in youth basketball, has spiraled into something extreme. Kids are playing three or four games on a Saturday, and then two or three more on Sunday. Not to invoke Allen Iverson’s infamous “practice” rant, but seriously — do these teams even get to practice anymore? They barely have time to rest, let alone work on their game in a structured setting.
These schedules treat players like their bodies are fully developed — like they’re professionals. This grind would challenge most college athletes, let alone teenagers. Injuries are piling up. Burnout is real. And in my opinion, it’s all preventable.
I love basketball. I love competition. But this nonstop playing can’t be good for anyone’s long-term health. When I was growing up, I’d play through injuries too — if they were manageable. But I was playing maybe two or three games a weekend, and only if we made it to the championship.
The goal of AAU should be to develop players the right way — not just rack up games. If a kid skips a tournament to rest, or a parent says “no thanks” to a sixth game on a Sunday night, that’s not being soft.
That’s being smart.
I’m not saying kids shouldn’t compete or chase their dreams — they should. But there has to be balance. Some of my best memories growing up came from basketball, but they also came from having space to just be a kid. We owe that to the next generation. Because if we’re not careful, we’ll lose more than games — we’ll lose the joy of the sport itself.
