It came as no surprise when owner Mark Cuban said recently that the Dallas Mavericks will subject Kristaps Porzingis to load management in 2019-20. After all, the Latvian sensation missed all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL, and there’s little to no precedent for a player of his size re-acclimating to the NBA game after suffering such a serious injury. The Mavericks just signed Porzingis to a five-year, $158 million contract in free agency, too, giving them all the more reason to slow-play his return lest risk further injury.

One complicating factor: The revamped Western Conference is poised to be as competitive as ever in 2019-20, and Dallas doesn’t exactly have the depth to compete on a nightly basis without one of its two best players. That’s why Charles Barkley believes the Mavericks, and LA Clippers with Kawhi Leonard, can’t afford to frequently rest Porzingis if they want any chance of contending.

“Kawhi Leonard was load managed for 22 games last year. That won’t work in the Western Conference, and the same goes for (Kristaps) Porzingis,” he said, per SportsDay’s Dean Straka. “There’s not one single bad team in the Western Conference. This is going to be the single most competitive season in the West I think we’ve ever had.”

Dallas acquired Porzingis in a trade with the New York Knicks last February. He’d established himself as an All-NBA candidate over the first few months of 2017-18 before suffering the injury, averaging 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting just below 40 percent from three.