This start to the NBA season was marked by an avalanche of injuries and more particularly calf strains, an injury notably suffered by Victor Wembanyama. Analyst Jeff Stotts looked into the issue and noted a 40% jump in calf injuries this season, with 25 cases since the start of this campaign, compared to 18 last season.
To find the origin of these numerous injuries, many pointed the finger at the calendar and this was particularly the case of Steve Kerr, highlighting the too many trips of his team at the start of the season. For others like John Hollinger de The Athleticthe busy schedule of the NBA Cup could be the cause of the increase in these injuries.
Faced with these questions, the NBA claims to have sought a correlation between its calendar and the injuries. Research at the end of which the Great League concluded… that there was no link between the two.
Leftovers from last season
In a rather annoyed press releaseNBA spokesperson Mike Bass announced: “John Hollinger’s hypothesis that the NBA Cup resulted in a denser schedule, which led to more player injuries, is not supported by our data. In fact, the NBA played almost the same number of games in 42 days this season (308) as last season (307). These figures are a continuation of those of the pre-Cup years with 308 matches played in 2022 and 313 in 2021. The NBA Cup did not give rise to a busier schedule at the start of the season. »
The NBA even assures that the number of games missed by stars due to injury is decreasing.
“Through the first six weeks of the season, the number of injuries forcing stars to miss games is at its lowest level in six years, down 25% from last season. Although many players are missing games due to injuries last season, it is incorrect to say that there is an increase in games missed this season due to scheduling.” continues the press release.
A distribution problem
In its study, however, the NBA was content to purely analyze the number of games played this season and the number of injuries, which does not necessarily correspond to the reality on the ground.
Because the problem does not lie so much in the number of matches played, but in the distribution of them. Because of the NBA Cup, the league has been forced to condense the schedule for this start of the season over certain periods, with many teams making long “road trips” across the United States in periods where they play “back-to-back” or play four games in seven days, as was the case for the Raptors who admitted to being tired after their elimination against the Knicks in the quarter-finals of the NBA Cup.
A sequence of encounters which can tire the body and therefore increase the risk of injury. Especially since, in its press release, the NBA did not mention the case of increased calf strains…
