Take a look at our top stories in recent days and an obvious pattern emerges.
Kevin Durant, Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Jordan Hawkins, Miles Bridges and Tyrese Maxey have all been sidelined by injuries that will keep them out of action for multiple weeks.
They join the likes of Kristaps Porzingis, Jaylen Brown, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Lonzo Ball, Aaron Gordon, James Wiseman, Kawhi Leonard, Khris Middleton, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Jaylin Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, Paolo Banchero, Joel Embiid, Jeremy Sochan, Scottie Barnes and Taylor Hendricks among the notable players currently sidelined by injuries. And we’re only into the first few weeks of the season.
This has become the new norm and arguably the biggest issue confronting the NBA. Despite advanced training methods, fewer back-to-backs, load management and rule changes to discourage physical play and flagrant fouls, players keep breaking down.
We’re not talking about football here, where injuries in a contact sport are inevitable. Research past decades and you’ll see that NBA players rarely missed games. Michael Jordan played 80 or more games 11 times. Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant each appeared in 77 or more regular-season games nine times.
So why can’t today’s players stay on the court? The usual excuse is that the game is more wide open and played at a faster pace. Teams spread the floor and defenders have to cover more ground.
Is it time for the NBA to slow the game down and preserve the players’ bodies? No one benefits when stars are on the bench in street clothes.
What changes can be made? The logical way of making it happen is to put limits on three-point attempts. The league isn’t going to erase the line but it could cap the amount of three-point attempts per game. Or they could have shots beyond the arc only count for three points at certain times of the game, say the last two or three minutes of each quarter. That would bring back more isolation plays and mid-range shooting.
We’ve seen recent rules changes improve MLB play, most notably the pitch clock, which had led to shorter games and less dead time.
That brings up to today’s topic: What steps should the NBA take to address the epidemic of injuries? What kind of rules changes or other methods would you suggest to reduce the amount of missed games?
Please take to the comments section to weigh on this topic. We look forward to your input.
They won’t, but they need to shave some games off the regular season. Realistically they need to get rid of the player participation policy. It’s no coincidence they they instituted last season and more players are getting hurt. Capping three pointers and/or having them only count at certain points isn’t organic, it’d be a forced method and I don’t think it wouldn’t slow anything down. More players would just drive to the rack as it the next most efficient play.
How about the players stop being soft? Hockey players laughing at them
Spot on
Id like to see 70 maybe 72 total
Never any back to backs
Excuse me for interjecting some common sense, but the NBA needs to eliminate back to backs. Actually, they should have been eliminated long, long ago. And, of course, reducing the amount of games. But neither idea has any chance of being adopted, because of the relentless desire for more, more, more money. One would think that millionaires and billionaires would realize that health and quality of play is more important when they already have more money than they can possibly need. But I have little to no hope that the owners, players, coaches, etc. will ever understand what I am talking about
Why hockey players do it in a way more physical sport? The prima Donna’s in basketball can go out every night but need a rest from the game lol
The NBA is entertainment first and foremost. Owners and players want to make money, not just win. In college, winning is paramount. This may continue to change with NIL money. In the NBA, profit and money are paramount. This is a league that mastered marketing in the late 90s and its growth is tied to its global appeal and corporate sponsorships. These sponsorships require TV money and games to be broadcast.
EM41 , all pro sports, including owners and players, are making substantially more money year-over-year, even as rate of injury climbs.
You may be right that quality of play is worse. But the measure of success in the entertainment industry are revenues and audience engagement, and those disagree with you.
It’s just part of the economic beliefs…
Health and safety aren’t important, chase that dollar sign…
The “usual excuse”-? I guess that means a reason 2k’ers find acceptable. The NBA has dumbed down their version of game, skill-wise. The game is now played emphasizing a skill set that is more susceptible to injury. In most realms, when you make changes, and negative things follow, the top suspect for causing the latter would be the former. But, of course, not in the NBA.
The suggestions in thread are unlikely to be implemented. They’re much too gimmicky and would require players to know when certain shots would be worth 3 points, and when they’re not. A simply correction is to reduce the game to four 10-minute quarters. This will reduce the amount of time for each game but will not lead to a loss of revenue due to fewer games. Players, owners, and the league will not approve fewer regular season games because would reduce revenue.
Another change that could result in stars playing more would be to require a certain number of games played for a player to earn max contracts. Kawhi, Joel, Bradley, and many others steal money from the owners and the league because they can’t or won’t play. The NBA already started down this path requiring certain numbers of games played for post-season awards, and come of these awards are related to max contracts. Guaranteeing less money if you don’t play will result in more players playing. Regardless, this problem will continue because currently there is no incentive for players to play with nagging injuries or when they’re no 100%.
Bottom line: less time on the court each year and more incentives to play games by linking contract money to games played.
I disagree. Technically speaking, players are already financially incentivized to play, since the value of their max contracts is tied to NBA awards status. We’ve already seen players push through short-term injuries in pursuit of the money, leading to long-term consequences (Haliburton, Embiid, etc.).
Tying max contract status to games played will, IMO, contribute to more injuries. Deciding whether an injury-prone player is worth a max contract is up to the team.
I do like your other idea (reducing the number of minutes/quarter) and agree that reducing games or altering 3-point rules isn’t feasible
Nonsense
embiid was playing simply for individual glory and an MVP award not for any financial gain.
Well then if that’s the case, we’ve arrived at a contradiction.
Which is it: players are too soft and holding themselves out when not really injured, or players are pushing through injury when they should be sitting out? You can’t call the player soft and then turn around and criticize them for pushing through injury
I’ve been watching hoops since the 80’s, it’s a far different game now.
The modern game is much, much faster on both sides of the court …… combine this with having some of the most athletic players in the world, injuries are commonplace.
No easy answers for this one, as there are many factors here …… the lowest-hanging fruit – eliminate back-to-backs.
Some possible solutions, like fewer games, which the NBA will never go for.
How’s about seeking the input of doctors, trainers – maybe, explore increasing the size of court to somehow slowdown the game some.
mike.honcho said:
> explore increasing the size of court to somehow slowdown the game some.
Increasing the size of the field can slow down a game if that’s what you want… but keep in mind that the game is played by 10’s of millions of players worldwide on 10’s of millions of existing courts. Moreover, there are thousands of facilities with stands constructed around the existing dimensions. The game’s growing popularity worldwide is based on shared experience.
See the NFL, where this discussion has played out for several years. It’s all about economics, from both league and player perspective, which is why the trend will continue in the same direction: there will be more, not less, games, and the league, owners, and players will make more money.
Consider that the NBA now formally restricts load management in the interest of better audience experience. And the financial rewards for players are so attractive that these players will happily comply. The modern pro athlete expects that training will be harder and longer, begin earlier in life, seasons will be longer and rest periods shorter.
All pro leagues have an economic incentive to play more games, not less. The NFL, which has this same problem of injured stars to a greater degree than the NBA, increased its season to 17 games, will move to 18 soon, and has increased the number of playoff games. Players are willing because the compensation is extraordinary.
The NBA is contractually bound to the networks to play the same number of games, on the same calendar, for the next 10 years, so we should consider reductions in schedule to be off the table.
I would also be curious about other factors such as players age ( increased stress at earlier ages, rate of injury as a function of age, etc), travel, team speed, contract size, shoes, ….
I would not agree with the assumptions that hockey and NFL are both more physical. Maybe if we ignore the massive amounts of equipment worn in each, and ignore the long amount of time a nfl player spends not playing football. But a basketball player is getting constant hard contact on their actual bodies without the benefit of equipment, and without the benefit of constant defensive/offensive substitutions and alignment delays.
Anyway, moving the line further away and thus reducing the efficiency would increase points in the paint and thus reduce the pace. Removing all the defensive rule limitations would slow down the pace too.
I’m also not sure fans want this type of solution. Less injuries but a slower pace. Sometimes the solution is worse than the problem. More research is needed.
Shaving off games or minutes is my preference, but it will never happen.
reflect, the NHL and NFL are far more “physical” now in the sense that the players are far bigger and stronger. This is a predominant issue in the discussion around CTE, and has been heavily documented.
The athlete of today is bigger and stronger of the athlete of yesterday, just as the athlete of tomorrow will be bigger and stronger than the athlete of today. Improved equipment helps marginally. Rule changes can help, but the leagues won’t do that to the extent it reduces fan interest.
There has always been injuries. We just know about it way more than we did 30 years ago.
The more athletic, fine tuned and specialized the game becomes, the more injuries will be commonplace. There are still many very durable players in the league. Many of the players listed in the article are freaky athletes or unicorn body types that already have a long injury history.
That 3 point idea is ridiculous…
Far too gimmicky…
NBA Players are Not Soft. They are making “Business Decisions” for longevity and getting the next contract. Some players will try to be “Hurt” 20 percent of the time to preserve their bodies for the next big contract. Look at Paul George…he basically plays 20 percent less games, it prolonged his life span for the next big contract at age 34. Jimmy Butler plays the same game right now for his next contract. Kawhi Leonard got 2 extra big contracts thru load management. Players can last longer now….lots of players still getting contracts at age 34,35,36 even 40.
Back in the days work culture was different…people prided themselves working to death and companies were loyal. Now people want work/life balance…so players may not value 82 game schedules
Go to McDonalds or Walmart…lots of employees “taking it easy”…they are not trying to get hurt their back for their employers. Its a longevity game for money.
The only way this get solve…No work/No pay…but the NBA Players Union will fight that.
Perfect Example is Ben Simmons….He knows he wont get another big contract…So his back is always magically injured when he does not feel like playing. The NBA cant do nothing about it because of guaranteed contracts. If the rule was No Work/No Pay….I guarantee you he will be suiting up.
Many NBA Players do the same thing as Ben but on a smaller scale and less obvious way not to affect contracts
I wonder if it’s not so much an injury epidemic, but the team being overly cautious and keeping the players out a long time when players inevitably do sustain injuries — even for minor injuries. Teams consider their players as financial investments now and they want to protect their investments. A player can have a stubbed toe and they keep them out 3 weeks as they go through all the numerous protocol steps to returning! Whereas in the past players got injured possibly just as much but they played through their injuries like the tough men they were. Team management wasn’t so overly cautious back then. The result is maybe players’ careers are being extended years-wise now, but they’re much less games each season, which is a bummer for the fans. Plus players are just softer now. I mean in baseball, when the team wins the World Series now and they celebrate in the locker room with champagne spraying, they wear goggles to protect their valuable multi-million dollar eyes!!! This overly conservative trend in the professional sports game is not a good thing.