"Did you notice that a lot of NBA stars missed time in the playoffs due to injury? In this article I’ll be mentioning who was injured and why." -- Rafi ponet, 6th Grade
Last NBA season, especially the playoffs, witnessed a significant amount of Injuries. The first big one taking place before there was a single game in the 2021 NBA season was Klay Thompson, a guard for the Goldenstate Warriors, who suffered a torn right achilles while “working on a double pullup jump shot,” says The Spun. Thompson missed the rest of the NBA season, causing the Warriors to fall out of the playoffs with a 39 and 33 record.
Thompson’s injury was a bad omen for the rest of the NBA, as on April 12th in a regular season game against the Warriors, Denver Nuggets star guard, Jamal Murray, tore his ACL while being fouled as he drove to the basket. Murray missed the remainder of the season and the playoffs as the Nuggets were swept by the Phoenix Suns in the second round after barely surviving Damian Lillard’s Portland Trailblazers.
Almost two weeks later on April 27th in a matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder, one-time all star Jaylen Brown hurt his wrist, which called for surgery. This was unfortunate seeing as Brown happened to be having one of the best games of his career, putting up 39 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Brown said that his wrist felt “fine” after the game. However, Brown missed the rest of the season as well as the playoffs, as he could only watch when the Celtics got destroyed by the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaking of the Brooklyn Nets, the super team was hobbled by injuries throughout the playoffs. Superstar James Harden hurt his hamstring less than one minute into game one of the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nets still managed to hold off the Bucks in game one and in game two destroyed them in a 125-86 victory for the Nets. Then, the Bucks won 86-83 in a brutal game to watch, smashing all hopes that the Nets would sweep Milwaukee. On top of this, in game four after Net’s star Kyrie Irving landed on Buck’s star Giannis Antetokounmpo as he came down from a jump shot, causing Irving to hurt his ankle. With Irving sidelined and Harden hobbled, the Nets fell to the Bucks in seven Games despite the heroics of Kevin Durant.
Philadelphia 76er’s star, Joel Embiid came off an MVP-type season only to tear his meniscus in a game four loss against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. The 76ers still stormed back and won game five without Embiid moving onto the next round as Seth Curry posted a playoff career high at the time with 30 points. Curry later broke that record in the second round of the playoffs, dropping 36 in a game five loss against the Atlanta Hawks.
Kawhi Lenard has made a name for himself as one of the best 2-way players in basketball. He was drafted 15th overall in 2011 by the Indiana Pacers, but traded to the San Antonio Spurs for George Hill. He came out of nowhere three years later winning Finals MVP in 2014 in an upset over the Miami Heat super team with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.
He then demanded a trade June 28th 2018 and won a championship with the Toronto Raptors and then left for the Los Angeles Clippers with Paul Gorge.
In the second round of 2021 after just barely surviving Luka Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks in seven games, the Clippers were rewarded with playing the best regular season team in the league: the Utah Jazz. Luckily for the Clippers, Utah’s star point guard, Mike Conley was out with a hamstring injury that had been bothering him since the playoffs the year before. The Jazz rallied without Conley winning the first two games of the series. The Clipper’s fought back and won game three. Then in game four, Lenard tore his ACL, missing the rest of the playoffs. He is still ruled out for most of the 2021-2022 NBA season. Paul George put the team on his back and the Clippers won games four and five. Then despite being down 72-50 at halftime, the Clippers, led by Tre Mann’s 39 points, stormed back and won the game. But in the conference finals, not having Lenard was just too much for the Clippers and the Suns defeated them in six games.
One of the biggest miracles of the playoffs was Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks going all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.Young had one of the best playoffs of all time. In the first round against the New York Nicks, Young averaged 29.2 points 10.9 assists 2.8 rebounds—and despite being a notoriously bad defender, 1.7 steals per game. He also hit the game winning floater in game one as well as in the closeout game 5. For this, he took a bow, shushing Madison Square Garden. Young and the Hawks made it all the way to the Conference Finals without their best defender in De’andre Hunter, who tore his lateral meniscus and missed the series against the 76er’s and Bucks. Then in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals, Young hurt his ankle, stepping accidentally on an official’s foot. The Hawks won game four without Young playing well but also because Bucks superstar Giannis Antetonkounmpo hyperextended his left knee causing him to miss game five and six. The Hawks then lost game five without Young and lost game six with him but it was clear Young was still in pain.
Of course, there were injuries that didn’t affect the playoffs that much (such as Dario Sarich tearing his ACL) but those were most of the big injuries. Twenty-twentyone had the least amount of All Stars participating in the playoffs. (Some All Stars didn’t even make the playoffs, like Steph Curry and Zion Williamson).
Why are there so many star injuries? i It’s simply that the stars play too many minutes. In game seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Bucks, Durant played all 48 minutes, and the five minute overtime, totalling to 53 minutes played in a single game! On the other hand, also Harden’s injuries occured in the first 43 seconds of the game. Some suggest that the season is too long. Playing a full 82 game season (even though it was only 72 this year), plus the Playoffs is hard on your body. That’s why players like Lebron James and Steph Curry take some games off to rest for the playoffs.
Hopefully 2022 will not have as many injuries, but only time will tell—that is why it is almost impossible to pick the correct NBA champion.
Thompson’s injury was a bad omen for the rest of the NBA, as on April 12th in a regular season game against the Warriors, Denver Nuggets star guard, Jamal Murray, tore his ACL while being fouled as he drove to the basket. Murray missed the remainder of the season and the playoffs as the Nuggets were swept by the Phoenix Suns in the second round after barely surviving Damian Lillard’s Portland Trailblazers.
Almost two weeks later on April 27th in a matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder, one-time all star Jaylen Brown hurt his wrist, which called for surgery. This was unfortunate seeing as Brown happened to be having one of the best games of his career, putting up 39 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Brown said that his wrist felt “fine” after the game. However, Brown missed the rest of the season as well as the playoffs, as he could only watch when the Celtics got destroyed by the Brooklyn Nets.
Speaking of the Brooklyn Nets, the super team was hobbled by injuries throughout the playoffs. Superstar James Harden hurt his hamstring less than one minute into game one of the second round against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nets still managed to hold off the Bucks in game one and in game two destroyed them in a 125-86 victory for the Nets. Then, the Bucks won 86-83 in a brutal game to watch, smashing all hopes that the Nets would sweep Milwaukee. On top of this, in game four after Net’s star Kyrie Irving landed on Buck’s star Giannis Antetokounmpo as he came down from a jump shot, causing Irving to hurt his ankle. With Irving sidelined and Harden hobbled, the Nets fell to the Bucks in seven Games despite the heroics of Kevin Durant.
Philadelphia 76er’s star, Joel Embiid came off an MVP-type season only to tear his meniscus in a game four loss against the Washington Wizards in the first round of the playoffs. The 76ers still stormed back and won game five without Embiid moving onto the next round as Seth Curry posted a playoff career high at the time with 30 points. Curry later broke that record in the second round of the playoffs, dropping 36 in a game five loss against the Atlanta Hawks.
Kawhi Lenard has made a name for himself as one of the best 2-way players in basketball. He was drafted 15th overall in 2011 by the Indiana Pacers, but traded to the San Antonio Spurs for George Hill. He came out of nowhere three years later winning Finals MVP in 2014 in an upset over the Miami Heat super team with Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.
He then demanded a trade June 28th 2018 and won a championship with the Toronto Raptors and then left for the Los Angeles Clippers with Paul Gorge.
In the second round of 2021 after just barely surviving Luka Dončić’s Dallas Mavericks in seven games, the Clippers were rewarded with playing the best regular season team in the league: the Utah Jazz. Luckily for the Clippers, Utah’s star point guard, Mike Conley was out with a hamstring injury that had been bothering him since the playoffs the year before. The Jazz rallied without Conley winning the first two games of the series. The Clipper’s fought back and won game three. Then in game four, Lenard tore his ACL, missing the rest of the playoffs. He is still ruled out for most of the 2021-2022 NBA season. Paul George put the team on his back and the Clippers won games four and five. Then despite being down 72-50 at halftime, the Clippers, led by Tre Mann’s 39 points, stormed back and won the game. But in the conference finals, not having Lenard was just too much for the Clippers and the Suns defeated them in six games.
One of the biggest miracles of the playoffs was Trae Young’s Atlanta Hawks going all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.Young had one of the best playoffs of all time. In the first round against the New York Nicks, Young averaged 29.2 points 10.9 assists 2.8 rebounds—and despite being a notoriously bad defender, 1.7 steals per game. He also hit the game winning floater in game one as well as in the closeout game 5. For this, he took a bow, shushing Madison Square Garden. Young and the Hawks made it all the way to the Conference Finals without their best defender in De’andre Hunter, who tore his lateral meniscus and missed the series against the 76er’s and Bucks. Then in game three of the Eastern Conference Finals, Young hurt his ankle, stepping accidentally on an official’s foot. The Hawks won game four without Young playing well but also because Bucks superstar Giannis Antetonkounmpo hyperextended his left knee causing him to miss game five and six. The Hawks then lost game five without Young and lost game six with him but it was clear Young was still in pain.
Of course, there were injuries that didn’t affect the playoffs that much (such as Dario Sarich tearing his ACL) but those were most of the big injuries. Twenty-twentyone had the least amount of All Stars participating in the playoffs. (Some All Stars didn’t even make the playoffs, like Steph Curry and Zion Williamson).
Why are there so many star injuries? i It’s simply that the stars play too many minutes. In game seven of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Bucks, Durant played all 48 minutes, and the five minute overtime, totalling to 53 minutes played in a single game! On the other hand, also Harden’s injuries occured in the first 43 seconds of the game. Some suggest that the season is too long. Playing a full 82 game season (even though it was only 72 this year), plus the Playoffs is hard on your body. That’s why players like Lebron James and Steph Curry take some games off to rest for the playoffs.
Hopefully 2022 will not have as many injuries, but only time will tell—that is why it is almost impossible to pick the correct NBA champion.