During a press conference on Monday, Sam Presti, the General Manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder, expressed his unease. Specifically, he drew attention to the alarming increase in the occurrence of injuries in the NBA. Before free agency, Presti spoke to reporters about the league-wide 65-game requirement for awards consideration. He further detailed how the shortened calendar thanks to the in-season tournament and overall increased physicality could cause more injuries to players.
Presti acknowledged that the NBA landscape today is “completely unrecognizable” from 10 years prior. Plus, he argued, players are now playing in almost two more games than they did a decade ago. With the significant increase in game load, this could result in a higher injury risk, particularly for Achilles tears. So far this postseason, we’ve seen big names like Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum hurt by this trend.
The NBA Finals went to Game 7, but the Oklahoma City Thunder just claimed a historic victory! Due to the conditions of those labor agreements, this win resulted in the city receiving its first championship. Beyond this success lay the imperceptible dark cloud formed by Presti’s fixation on injury worries. He pointed out an alarming epidemic of Achilles injuries. He urged the league to take a more collaborative and clinical approach to address these challenges.
“I think the one thing we have to do is get away from the defensive nature of trying to convince people, players, and teams that there’s no connection between the loads and the injuries,” – Sam Presti
The truth is, the NBA has recognized the importance of these injury patterns. As NBA Commissioner Adam Silver pointed out, it is a remarkable evolution of the game. He pointed to a change in offensive strategies, along with a jump in possessions, having made it “a completely different sport than it was just a few years ago.” Silver pointed out that “when we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break.”
He expressed concern over relying on outdated statistics, stating, “If pointing to data, the data is from 20 years ago or 10 years ago.” He thinks that knowing how the new game is played and what it requires physically is really important to stop experiencing these injuries again.
The league is now using artificial intelligence to help determine what may be causing the increase in Achilles injuries this year. Presti is optimistic that with this technological approach, new insights can be gained to develop unique injury prevention strategies.
“Putting our heads together and being rational about it and not defensive, trying to produce numbers and data that indicates that the more you play, the more healthy you are,” – [Source Unspecified]
His testimony ended with a request for cooperation among players, teams, and league officials. Specifically, he wanted to counter injury concerns by focusing on evidence that would show positive outcomes. Rather than being reactionary, we need to consider them as an opportunity to better the game.
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