The NBA season is still in its infancy, yet many of the 30 teams are already missing players due to injury. Is the league now under pressure to act?
The discussions about the increasing number of injuries do not stop. The first three weeks of the season have been completed and yet numerous star players are already condemned to watch. Recently, the list was extended to include well-known players such as Ja Morant, Kevin Durant and Chet Holmgren.
Altman: “I’ve never seen playoffs with so many injuries”
The injuries are once again grist to the mill of the already long-running discussion about the protection of players, which reached its interim peak in the past playoffs. Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Mitchell, Haliburton and Porzingis are just a few players who were completely or temporarily unavailable in the end-of-season playoffs.
“I’ve never seen playoffs where so many star players are out due to injuries,” said Koby Altman, president of the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time. ‘I think it’s a very good question: How do we solve the injury problem?’
Fewer games? Unlikely after TV deal
Not least because the league was about to sign a new TV deal at the time, they showed little interest in shortening the schedule. Instead, they argued that there was no scientific evidence to suggest that there was a link between the increased number of injuries and the large number of games.
OKC General Manager Sam Presti sees it differently: “In the second half of the season, we once had 17 games in one month. That was five back-to-backs.”
Increased pace and intensity take a toll on players
Compared to previous generations of NBA players, the intensity is higher today. The game has become significantly faster and more dynamic due to the three-point shots, and defenders have to cover greater distances. This takes a toll on the players.
While it was common for players like Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson to play almost 80 regular season games in the 80s and 90s, it is now the exception.
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Now that the TV deal has been finalized, reducing the number of games is no longer an option. Instead, calls for other interventions in the system are growing louder. For example, body contact could be penalized even more quickly through fouls to keep the impact low. Capping the number of three-pointers per game has also been suggested.
All of these ideas are not without merit. But everyone agrees on one thing: things cannot go on like this!