Injuries that are no longer career-ending
Injuries are every basketball player’s worst nightmare. Even at the highest level, celebrities face injuries that can have a huge impact on their success, career, future and life. In the past, we have seen countless basketball careers end prematurely due to injuries or simply not reaching the level that was projected. In recent years, however, it seems that some of the injuries that were once career-destroying are not so serious today. This is what we are looking at in this week’s Grosbasket blog.
In our blog Basketball players whose careers were stolen by injuries, we look at the careers that took a different path than originally predicted. Greg Oden, Grant Hill, Brandon Roy, Tracy McGrady and Derrick Rose. It was a lost career, or rather an injury, that triggered, or at least coincided with, a major health advance in the strongest basketball league in the world. If his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury was a sign of the end of his career at that time, Rose is one of the proofs that the journey continues.
ACL injury in recent years
And while it is one of the most feared injuries in basketball, a 2021 Stanford University study says otherwise. Its author, Kevin Thomas, who reviewed five decades of injuries in the American League with his team, pointed out:
“Players who were able to return to the NBA after an ACL tear returned at a similar level to what you would expect from a player who didn’t have an ACL injury at all.”
However, the time taken to return is excluded from the study. Take for example the 2020-2021 season, when Kawhi Leonard, Thomas Bryant, Markelle Fultz, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jamal Murray and Dario Šarić tore their anterior cruciate ligaments. Together, they missed an average of 100 games, which is one full season and a quarter of the next. For most of them, this has had a major impact on the team’s success, which has been sidelined by injury for at least one season.
What happens when one team has two serious injuries? That’s what happened in Orlando, where in addition to Fultz, Jonathan Isaac was also injured. The story is even worse for him, as he injured his ACL on the 3rd of January 2020 and will play only 13 of the team’s 236 possible games until the start of the 2023-2024 season. This is a case where the injury to the anterior cruciate ligaments is too severe. Will he be able to play at a higher level? We will see.
A nice example of a return to the desired level is Klay Thompson, whose style of play has been a big question mark regarding his form since returning from injury. Even though he missed two whole seasons, he is now playing like Klay Thompson again. The question is once again in place. Would he have helped the Golden State Warriors to a title or two if he hadn’t gotten injured? Regardless of the successes, for many basketball players, it is about being able to play the sport they love after such injuries.
Achilles tendon, the injury with the right name
Kevin Durant tore his Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals, and for many it was the main reason why the Toronto Raptors beat Golden State. The injury caused him to miss the entire 2018-2019 season, but that’s not all. If he averaged 71 regular season games in the four seasons before the injury, he has played “only” 46 in the four seasons since. A look at the stats shows that he even improved after the injury. When he can play.
A 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine examined five decades of the world’s strongest basketball league. In 48 years, 44 basketball players had an Achilles tendon injury or tear. On average, they were absent for 10 months, but the most striking figure is this. More than a third of the players either had to retire or played a maximum of 10 more games in their careers.
In addition to Durant, Kobe Bryant, DeMarcus Cousins and Wesley Matthews have also returned in some capacity in recent years, but the case of Dominique Wilkins, who was injured in 1991-92, has always been used as a positive prognosis.
Why are injuries no longer the end of a career?
Basketball is based on speed, changes of direction, jumping and turning. Due to the complexity of basketball, it requires a longer recovery time for patients or basketball players. And if injuries such as a torn Achilles tendon and an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) were three decades ago, or even a decade ago, marked as the end of a career as we know it for an athlete, this is no longer the case. There are always going to be exceptions where you have Greg Oden on one side and LeBron James on the other.
The individual body accepts and recovers from injury differently. Healthcare in basketball has advanced to high levels, but despite injuries, we sometimes criticise basketball players for missing too many games because they do not appreciate the fans and the team. But health is only appreciated when it lets you down.
The final message comes from Dallas and the basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki:
“I can’t stop thinking about whether it was worth it to play the last few seasons. The truth is, I’m barely moving. If I had retired years earlier, I would be able to play football with my kids now. Now I can’t even do that. It’s not easy to know when to stop playing the sport you love.”
