Will injuries ruin the NBA postseason?!
- Apr 17, 2018
- 2 min read
The ever growing list of injuries could ruin the postseason party.
It was confirmed this weekend that both Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving will be ruled out for an extended period of time due to their respective knee injuries in yet another reminder of how the injury bug has been alive and well throughout this NBA season.
The opening game of the season set a dark undertone when Gordon Hayward dislocated his ankle and fractured his tibia minutes in to a nationally televised game. The very next day, Jeremy Lin ruptured his patellar tendon, both of these hugely influential players were already out for the season, and we just the start of a list of players who endured season-ending injuries.
In total, there are currently 17 players who have suffered from a season ending injury (in alphabetical order):
Ron Baker: dislocated shoulder, torn labrum
Kent Bazemore: knee bone bruise
Patrick Beverley: season-ending knee surgery
Avery Bradley: sports hernia, surgery Michael Carter-Williams: torn labrum in shoulder
Mike Conley: season-ending foot surgery
DeMarcus Cousins: torn Achilles
Seth Curry: left leg stress fracture Gordon Hayward: dislocated ankle, fractured tibia
Brandon Knight: torn ACL
Jeremy Lin: ruptured patella tendon
Wesley Matthews: stress fracture in right leg
Kristaps Porzingis: torn ACL
Andre Roberson: ruptured patella tendon Thabo Sefolosha: MCL avulsion Daniel Theis: torn meniscus Dion Waiters: ankle surgery
What's sad about that list is the number of big names who have been sidelined. DeMarcus Cousins, Kristaps Porzingis and Gordon Hayward would have surely made a difference in the playoff race.
While the league has lost players for the season, others, including all-star level players have missed significant playing time due to injuries this season. For example, Paul Millsap missed 44 games due to an injured wrist, while Kevin Love missed time from January to March due to a fractured hand.
While it's impossible to list all of the names, here are a select number of players who have missed significant playing time this season:
Lonzo Ball: Grade 2 MCL sprain
Nicolas Batum: Achilles injury
Malcolm Brogdon: torn quadriceps tendon
Jimmy Butler: torn meniscus
Stephen Curry: ankle injuries, Grade 2 MCL sprain
Kevin Durant: rib injury
Markelle Fultz: scapular dyskinesis in shooting shoulder
Danilo Gallinari: multiple injuries
Rudy Gobert: sprained PCL, bruised tibia
Blake Griffin: MCL sprain
Kyrie Irving: knee procedure
Reggie Jackson: Grade 3 ankle sprain
Zach LaVine: missed beginning of season recovering from torn ACL
Kawhi Leonard: quadriceps tendonitis Kevin Love: fractured hand Paul Millsap: non-shooting wrist injury and surgery Marcus Smart: thumb/hand injury
Klay Thompson: thumb injury Nikola Vucevic: fractured hand John Wall: knee surgery Hassan Whiteside: Left knee soreness
A worrying factor in a number of these injuries is the occurrence of more 'non-contact' injuries, with no real explanation as to why.
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