On Monday, Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti made the case for addressing injury concerns in the NBA at a press conference. This came after one short week of his crew on the court rejoicing in their first championship, taking Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Presti pointed to a number of reasons for the alarming increase in injuries. Within that, we have seen a remarkable uptick in Achilles tears for star players such as Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton.
Presti noted the NBA’s newly implemented 65-game requirement for players to qualify for certain awards as a potential contributor to injury risks. He contended that this regulation could push athletes to play in greater number of contests than they are medically ready. “When we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, echoing concerns about player workload.
The other reason Presti pointed to is the compressed calendar due to the league’s addition of an in-season tournament. He noted the wear and tear as teams now play nearly two more games per season than a decade ago. This modification increases the risk of harm for athletes. The shift toward allowing more physicality in the game raises alarm bells. We know that more aggressive play leads to higher injury rates.
Presti said he hoped the NBA would take a less “reactionary” position on the discussion of injuries moving forward. To him, the league needs to be more open and collaborative to figuring out the causal relationship between player workloads and injury rate. “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,” he stated.
The league has deployed artificial intelligence — through a partnership with IBM — to analyze patterns that could be related to Achilles injuries. They’re taking some strong steps to understand what’s causing these injuries to increase. Silver acknowledged that the game today is different from what it was several years ago, attributing this change to an increase in possessions and evolving offensive 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,” he explained.
Player health is going to be an especially important issue as we near free agency. The words of Presti should serve as a clarion call to address these injury concerns proactively.
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