The NBA has a ‘missing stars’ problem with injuries piling up faster than normal

The opening weeks of the NBA season have been besieged by absent stars. This past week’s games turned out to be particularly destructive. First, on Thursday, news broke that Philadelphia 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey went down with a hamstring injury that will sideline him for multiple weeks. Then Zion Williamson. Then Ja Morant. Then Kevin Durant. Then Chet Holmgren. Each is expected to be sidelined with timetables measured in weeks, not days.

And that’s just this past week. Teams are fighting to keep their biggest names on the floor, and many are losing that battle. Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard haven’t even played a game yet. (Embiid is expected to make his season debut on Tuesday.) Jaylen Brown (missed four games), Stephen Curry (three), Zach LaVine (three) and Anthony Davis (one) have been banged up. Houston’s Fred VanVleet (hamstring) is set to miss his first game of the season on Tuesday. Paolo Banchero is out. So is Scottie Barnes, Dejounte Murray and Khris Middleton. All told, when you dive into the numbers, the NBA is bordering on a health crisis.

In Year 2 of the NBA’s Player Participation Policy, star players are on pace to miss over 1,000 games this season, with games missed by star players up 24 percent in the early going compared to last season at this time. As the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup tips off on Tuesday, the excitement surrounding the second annual in-season tournament is being severely undercut by the growing list of injured stars.

The hope is that this is just an early-season blip, but there’s reason to believe that the dark cloud hovering over the league is here to stay.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant has been sidelined with a hip injury and is considered week-to-week. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)

Injuries are trending in the wrong direction across the NBA

Lakers star LeBron James has stated that his intention is to play all 82 games this season. A noble goal, to be sure. But he’s on a dwindling list of stars who can still pursue that distinction.

Using the NBA’s official definition of a star player, codified in the league’s Player Participation Policy as having made the All-Star…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/the-nba-has-a-missing-stars-problem-with-injuries-piling-up-faster-than-normal-211809746.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-11-11 21:18:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.