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In 17 years, Andre Miller missed only three NBA matches. Here's how

The 41-year-old from Los Angeles plied his trade in basketball's most popular league for 17 long years, from 1999 to 2016, across 10 teams.

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An underlying theme that currently binds various sports the world over is complaints about workload. Be it global footballers, tennis stars or cricketers in India, many are voicing their concerns about the excessive time they spend on field throughout the year.

However, if there's one man who had almost mastered the art of managing workload, it is former NBA star Andre Miller.

The 41-year-old from Los Angeles plied his trade in basketball's most popular league for 17 long years, from 1999 to 2016, across 10 teams. He missed only three NBA games in those 17 years due to injury.

For a league that begins in October and culminates in June every season, that's a remarkable piece of statistic to highlight an athlete's fitness and ability to manage one's body, something that is getting increasingly challenging for sportspersons at the moment.

"There wasn't any secret," Miller told DNA on Friday after landing in India for a visit to the NBA Basketball School in New Delhi and the NBA Academy in Noida.

"I just made sure that I continued to have fun, and try not to look at it as a job. I always believed that if I enjoyed what I was doing, I can continue to do it and not have any regrets about it. So, I just kept my routines the same. I never did anything special. I just took care of my body and took the right amount of rest," he said.

The former point guard believes the best way for any athlete to keep his body at its optimum for long periods of time is to not overdo anything.

"I just figured out a way not to burn myself out. When my body felt that it was getting tired or fatigued, then I just got rest. Sometimes, players can overdo it in training. You've got to figure out what's good for your body, what's good not for your body. I think sometimes I overworked my body, but I found a way to give it some rest. So, it's all about knowing when to do things and when not to," Miller, who ranks ninth in the all-time list of most NBA career assists, said.

Sports like football, tennis and cricket are battling with suggestions of toning down its quantity of matches, something even India captain Virat Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri have spoken about recently.

Miller, though, doesn't agree.

"It's good to leave things the way they are. I think by keeping things competitive and keeping the same amount of games throughout, it separates the best from the average. And what the fans want to see is the best out there. So, you've got to have a way to separate the average from the best," he said.

KNOW MILLER

Full name: Andre Miller
Age: 41 years
Playing Career: 1999-2016
Position: Point Guard
Teams: Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs

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