Kevin Durant. And Morant. Zion Williamson. Chet Holmgren. Tyrese Maxey. Paolo Banchero. Kristaps Porzingis. Aaron Gordon. Kawhi Leonard. Chris Middleton. Isaiah Hartenstein. Dejounte Murray.
That list is only the tip of the iceberg. Some of the NBA’s biggest stars have already missed time this season due to injuries — and that doesn’t even include someone like Joel Embiid, who hasn’t played yet this season but is expected to return Tuesday.
What’s going on? It felt like a rash of injuries overwhelmed the start of the NBA season. Are things really that bad?
No. And yes.
Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes — who maintains a database that has tracked NBA injuries for more than a decade — wrote this week that there aren’t more injuries so far this season compared to a year ago, but players are missing more time.
While injury rates remain on par with past seasons, the total number of games lost due to these injuries is proving more costly. Through almost three weeks the total number of men’s games lost due to injury or illness exceeds previous seasons by 100 games. The numbers are likely to increase after the top two picks of the 2019 NBA Draft, Zion Williamson of New Orleans and Ja Morant of Memphis, were ruled out indefinitely with hamstring and hip injuries, respectively.
He also wrote that before Chet Holmgren’s hip fracture was announced, that number would only climb higher.
Why all these more serious injuries?
This has been a subject of speculation around the NBA. One issue that comes up is teams having shorter training camps/preseasons and not playing much or taking them very seriously. The theory goes that coaches and players are more concerned about getting to the start of the season healthy and have rested them by pushing themselves hard in a short preseason. The result is more injuries when players hit the regular season and suddenly start going 100 miles an hour.
In the bigger picture, there’s the wear and tear players put on their bodies before they get to the league – it is documented that the early specialization of sports was hard on the bodies of many young athletes across multiple sports. Players usually specialize in one sport before they even reach high school, and with a sport like basketball the season is almost year-round with AAU, high school teams and private coaches. The result is players using the same muscle groups – and putting wear and tear on the same tendons and ligaments – with repetitive movements from a younger age. That has players’ bodies more worn out by the time they reach the league.
Like most things in life, there probably isn’t one answer – it’s a combination of factors. But for a league trying to increase the value of the regular season — and for teams to take it seriously and not burden managing players to keep them healthy for the playoffs — that’s going to be a problem. All the player participation policies in the world will not solve the root problems.
