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