Who Has the Injury Bug?
This condensed NBA season has featured a high number of injuries, especially to notable players. In this post, I am going to discuss what teams are in the most trouble with their current injuries. While some teams have been impacted by recent injuries, I am only looking at players who are currently missing time or currently dealing with injuries. I will focus on players who have an injury that has caused them to miss a substantial number of games. I will also not discuss season-ending injuries that were sustained in the offseason or early in the season, so apologies in advance to leave off players such as Klay Thompson, Jaren Jackson Jr., T.J. Warren, Jonathan Isaac, Zach Collin, Thomas Bryant, Markelle Fultz, and Killian Hayes.
All injuries are accurate as of prior to the games played on
April 14th. All states come
from Basketball-Reference.com.
There is also a bonus regarding Daunte Wright’s murder.
1. Los
Angeles Lakers
Their two superstars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, have
missed a substantial amount of time.
LeBron’s last game was March 20th and could miss 3 more weeks
while Davis last played on February 14th but will be re-evaluated on
the 15th (he could potentially return within 10 games). In the time both have been out, the team has
been 5-7 and dropped to 5th.
Even with LeBron and no Davis, they were only 7-8, so I still expect there
will be struggles until James returns. Unless
they really struggle, I don’t expect them to drop into the play-in picture
(especially with Denver’s recent injury news), but dropping to 6th
could put them against the Clippers as an opening round matchup, one they would
likely prefer to avoid. There are also
minor injuries that could cause some depth issues in the next few games, as Dennis
Schroder, Kyle Kuzma, Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol, Wesley Matthews, and Alfonzo
McKinnie are all on the injury report with day-to-day injuries. Jared Dudley also has a torn MCL; while he
wouldn’t be a large piece in the playoffs, he would help their depth in the
short term.
2. Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets had been surging and risen to 4th
after recently ending an 8-game win streak.
Then came the worst possible news:
Jamal Murray tore his ACL and is out for the season. Murray had played the role of their second-best
player (behind MVP-candidate Nikola Jokic) and for the season averaged 21.2 PPG
on 47.7% shooting and 40.8% from deep (all career highs), 4.8 APG, 4.0 RPG, and
1.3 SPG (also a career high) in a career high 35.5 MPG. He has been surging as of late; in his last
24 games prior to the injury, he averaged 24.2 PPG (51.3% FG%, 47.1% 3P%, 94.5%
FT%), 5.2 APG, 4.1 RPG, and 1.5 SPG while the team was a +7.5 with him on the
court. Overall, the team was a +6.5 with
him on the court, so this will hurt without a doubt; that said, I still expect
them to finish as a top-5 team. The
bigger issue is that without him I don’t consider them a contender anymore; I
don’t believe Michael Porter can fill the role offensively that Murray will,
and Aaron Gordon is best served as the fourth option on the team.
3. Golden State Warriors
Currently, the Warriors have James Wiseman who has a torn
meniscus (while no timetable has been announced, don’t be surprised if he
misses the season), Eric Paschal who is still out for another week or two, and
Kelly Oubre who is day to day due to a wrist injury. They already were in trouble with their
scoring outside of Steph Curry; I have liked Andrew Wiggins this year, but the
three dealing with injuries might be the next three players I trust
scoring. This could be a rough run
offensively for this year as the team continues to fight to try to stay in Play
In consideration; they are currently 10th, but New Orleans is on their
tails.
4. Brooklyn Nets
While the Nets have dealt with several minor injuries lately,
the most important factor to keep in mind is their Big 3: Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie
Irving. The most important factor is
that they are healthy; while Durant has returned from his injury, James Harden
is dealing with a hamstring issue that has kept him out for a week and Irving has
had injury issues in the past. That
said, the next most important thing is for them to get some playing time
together, as they have only played 7 games together so far. Some have compared this to the lack of
chemistry found with the Clippers, but I think Harden’s playmaking and ability
to run an offense will help them enough offensively. They need all three playing together on all
cylinders to guarantee they can outscore teams enough down the stretch.
5. Charlotte Hornets
While the Hornets have played well this year, currently in 6th
and playing well since the All-Star break, they are in a bit of trouble with
injuries. First, Rookie of the Year
candidate LaMelo Ball (who has thrived for them) fractured his wrist on March
21st and is expected to be re-evaluated in a few weeks (don’t be
surprised if he isn’t ready to return though).
Next, Malik Monk, tweaked his ankle at the beginning of the month and is
expected to miss at least a couple weeks.
Not long after, Gordon Hayward injured his foot and will be re-evaluated
in 4 in a few weeks. The reason this is
so critical for them is that they are missing their best player (Hayward), probably
their third best player (Ball), and a player who would help their depth immensely
with those two out (Monk). Will Terry
Rozier and co. be able to keep them out of the Play In tournament? Don’t count on it; Boston has played better
lately and is playing for their lives right now to avoid that spot.
6. New Orleans Pelicans
While the Pelicans are currently 1 game out of 10th
and have multiple players injured, they won their last 3 games and have often
looked competitive. They have Lonzo Ball
dealing with an injury (upgraded to day-to-day though), Josh Hart out for a few
more weeks, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker out for a few more weeks. The reason I don’t consider this crucial is
because they have played well using Zion Williamson as a ball handler, still
have Brandon Ingram who has been strong offensively, and have Eric Bledsoe
available and Isaiah Thomas recently signed to a 10-day deal. Ball fully recovering from the injury will
make this stretch much easier.
7. Los Angeles Clippers
Most people won’t bat an eye when looking at the Clippers’
injury report, but it has Patrick Beverley who is out and will be re-evaluated
in around 3-4 weeks and Serge Ibaka out for their current road trip. While I doubt Ibaka’s injury is a major one,
not having Beverley in the playoffs (despite his struggles to stay on the court
due to foul troubles) will be essential for a team that has consistently
struggled in the clutch. While he’s been
streaky offensively, he is always a pesky and annoying defender to have to
face, which is what the Clippers will need if Paul George struggles as mightily
as he did last year in the playoffs.
8. Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks have been bit by the injury bug all season; among
the players currently injured, De’Andre Hunter has only played 20 games, Cam
Reddish has played 26, John Collins was recently injured (expect him to not
miss a long time though), and Kris Dunn has yet to play a game for Atlanta. They previously dealt with injuries to Bogdan
Bogdanovic, Onyeka Okongwu, and the recently traded Rajon Rondo. Now, Hunter is close to returning, Collins
won’t be out much longer, Reddish will be re-evaluated in a couple weeks, and
Dunn is practicing. The team has thrived
since the All-Star break and is sitting in 4th place right now, so
these additions will likely help keep them in the playoff race.
9. Toronto Raptors
While it is considered a day-to-day injury, Fred VanVleet
has missed the last 5 games and the Raptors have gone 2-3 in that stretch. The team still has a shot for a Play In game,
but they need him back; now that Norman Powell is gone, he is their second
leading scorer behind Pascal Siakam, and while his efficiency numbers have
taken a bit of a dip, they are still a +3.1 with him on the court. Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like a major
injury, as that would likely ruin Toronto’s chances of making it to the
playoffs.
10. Memphis Grizzlies
As a testament to just how well they have played this year,
they had several key players miss time (including Ja Morant), Jaren Jackson has
yet to play this season, De’Anthony Melton has been out for the last 5 games,
and Justise Winslow has been out for the last 9 after missing their first 25
games. Memphis is constructed in such a
way that they are an incredibly deep team, as I probably trust 12 players on
their team (healthy or not) to play at least 20 minutes a game. That said, Jackson’s presence will help, especially
considering he averaged 17.4 PPG on 39.4% from 3 and 1.6 BPG last season; he could
return at some point. Melton has been a
valuable player this season; while he has always been a plus defender, his shooting
has emerged, with him shooting a career-high 45.3% from deep and averaging 10.1
PPG. While Winslow has struggled upon
returning from his injury, he has been aggressive and has shown glimpses that
he can help the second unit.
11. New York Knicks
While the Knicks have been the feel-good story of the year
(for once), young center Mitchell Robinson fractured his foot in late-March and
is out indefinitely. The good news is
that they have Nerlens Noel who can fill in as a starter and could attempt
Julius Randle at center in glimpses if Tom Thibodeau wants (I would consider it
in certain matchups, but not all). The
bad news stems more from their options after that; I would much prefer a center
pairing of Robinson and Noel than I would one of Noel and Taj Gibson. While Robinson’s game is limited to the
paint, he has shot 65.3% this season and scored 8.3 PPG while adding 8.1 RPG,
1.5 BPG, 1.1 SPG, and continuously playing great defense. Noel can provide some of the defense, but I
trust Robinson more offensively. That
could hurt them a bit as they continue to push for a playoff spot.
12. Sacramento Kings
The Kings made the shocking decision to buy at the trade
deadline, indicating that they expect to compete for a playoff spot despite
being in 12th and 4 games out at the moment. The major active injury for them is to Marvin
Bagley III, as he has a hand injury that will likely cause him to miss at least
few more weeks. While Bagley has been
atrocious defensively and looked like a bust (even though I expected that when
he was drafted), his jumper has developed better than I expected; this season,
he has shot 35.4% from deep and is averaging 13.9 PPG with a career high 54.3
eFG%. There are red flags though: he has career lows in PPG and FGA, he is only
shooting 56.0% from the line, and is game outside of his shooting and shot
selection has not improved substantially, raising some concerns regarding what
his ceiling can be. That said, having
him available would give De’Aaron Fox another player to dish it to and would
help if it is worth offering him an extension this offseason.
13. Miami Heat
While the Heat have dealt with all sorts of issues previously
this season, they are largely healthy at the moment with the exception of newly
acquired Victor Oladipo, who is set to miss a few games. After having a bit of a resurgence to start
the season in Indiana, he struggled with efficiency in Houston, shooting 40.7%
from the field and 32.0% from 3 (he did average 21.2 PPG though). In 4 games in Miami, he has only shot 37.2%
from the field and 23.5% from deep while averaging just 12.0 PPG. His defense has also bun underwhelming this
season, but he is averaging 4.8 RPG and 4.6 APG; the playmaking can’t hurt. That said, Miami needs a much better version
of Oladipo if they want to repeat any of their success from last year; they are
currently in 5th. It would
help to know what they have in him prior to the playoffs.
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
With the Timberwolves being as horrible as they have been, this
season is a lost season for them. That
said, I think it is best to use this season to see what they have in their four
best players: Karl-Anthony Towns, D’Angelo
Russell, Anthony Edwards, and Malik Beasley.
The issue with that mindset this season is that most of them has missed
time due to injuries, with Beasley currently scheduled to miss 4-6 weeks due to
a Grade 3 hamstring injury after returning from a suspension. He has been one of the few bright spots for
them, averaging 19.6 PPG on 39.9 3P% and 54.7% eFG%, showing that his 14-game
surge last season might not be such a fluke.
That said, losing Beasley prevents them from seeing what a combination
of those 4 could do. In particular,
since Russell is untradeable at this point, Towns is the best player on the
team, and Edwards has played well lately, seeing what Beasley could do
alongside the other three would be nice to see whether they should keep him or try
selling high on him.
15. Oklahoma City Thunder
Not only are the Thunder totally throwing in the towel on
winning, but they are also on a 7-game blowout streak; each of their last 7
games were losses by at least 10, with one even being a 48-point loss to
Portland. They are playing all their young
guys and have several players dealing with minor injuries lately. The two players who have missed substantial
time recently due to injuries are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Mike
Muscala. I admittedly think Muscala was
likely to be pulled from the rotation at some point to give young players the
opportunity to prove themselves over the 29-year-old, but Gilgeous-Alexander’s
might be slightly concerning. He has
plantar fasciitis in his right foot and was expected to miss a few weeks and
return mid-April, but there hasn’t been much news regarding his return. I expect he will be able to recover to the
form he has shown this year, averaging a career-high 23.7 PPG with career highs
in FG% (50.8%), 3P% (41.8%), 2P% (54.7%), consequently eFG% (57.1%), FT%
(80.8%), and APG (5.9). I don’t expect
long-term issues with him, but it would be nice to see who he plays well
alongside, as he will be one of their stars of the future.
16. Philadelphia 76ers
Now that Joel Embiid is back from his injury and looking good,
the big injury they have to deal with is George Hill’s. He has said that there isn’t a timetable for
return, but he expects to return for the playoffs. Honestly, this is when they will need him;
while it will be better to have him sooner rather than later to get him
acclimated, his importance comes into play during the playoffs where they will
need the depth. While I love the trio of
Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris this season, I think Seth Curry is
better suited for a 6th man role, Danny Green shouldn’t be in the
starting lineup, and guys like Matisse Thybulle, Furman Korkmaz, and Shake
Milton are a bit too streaky for me to feel comfortable relying on in large spurts. They have gotten by during the regular
season, but Philadelphia will need Hill.
17. Houston Rockets
The Rockets have been horrible since the James Harden trade,
and the two major injuries they are dealing with are injuries to Eric Gordon
(expected to miss a few more weeks) and David Nwaba (expected to miss extended
time). To be blunt, neither of these are
in their long-term plans, so this isn’t the biggest deal in the world. While I might worry Gordon’s injury could
hurt his trade value (I don’t think it will though), I’m not sure that the
Rockets to pull the trigger on a deal. I
could see them being under the impression that they could be competitive next
year depending on their makeup and if Christian Wood is healthy (a big part of
why I think they were so bad this year), but this isn’t guaranteed.
Bonus: Daunte Wright
On April 11th, in Brooklyn City, MN, just miles
away from where the trial of Derek Chauvin for murdering George Floyd occurred,
20-year-old Daunte Wright, who is black, was killed by police officer Kimberly
Ann Potter, who is white. What started
as a traffic stop that was leading to an arrest for outstanding warrants
escalated to the point where Potter fatally shot Chauvin after threatening to
tase him. On April 12th, Brooklyn
Center police chief Tim Gannon said that Potter intended to grab her taser and
accidentally grabbed her gun. Potter and
Gannon resigned on April 13th and Potter was arrested on the 14th. Since the shooting, riots have ensued in the
area.
I have seen a lot of people focus on either the fact that another
black man was murdered by police (which is tragic to witness and something that
needs to be addressed to a greater extreme) or the fact that he shouldn’t have ran (I don’t feel as
though I can comment on this because I have never been scared for my life that
I might be killed by police as a white individual). I want to take a different approach and focus
on two things, which are both related to the response of the police department.
One thing that bothers me so much about this incident is
that Potter was shouting “Taser” repeatedly before shooting Wright and then was
initially defended Gannon for accidentally grabbing her gun. I do not understand how a police officer are
under the impression that it is acceptable to not recognize the difference between
the two. Before people fallaciously say
that I wouldn’t know this because I haven’t dealt with the stress of this and I
have never been a police officer (this argument always seems to come up and
those who argue it really need to look up Ad Hominem and learn some logic), that
doesn’t apply to my argument since I’m not a police officer. I know that with my mental health I would not
be able to handle the situations, but those who are trained officers should be
able to identify the difference between a taser and a gun in a situation where
one is needed. Potter had worked as an
officer for 26 years and was training another officer, so this should not be
happening to somebody who has years of experiencing and is showing others what
to do. This is not something that should
have been so quickly defensible.
The other thing that bothers me was that it took 3 days for
Potter to be arrested. While I don’t
know the exact details behind the timespan, I anticipate that part of the
reason it took so long was because as a state employee in this role, there
would likely need to be an investigation to determine whether what she did was
defensible. One thing that slightly annoys
me about the timespan is that if an individual hadn’t been an officer, an
arrest warrant would have likely been issued sooner; that said, an
investigation would need to be done to confirm whether shooting him was
justified. That said, this case is
different because she threatened to tase Wright prior to shooting him, which should
have instantly set of red flags whether this was an accident or not. Even in the face of public pressure and scrutiny
regarding this, I am slightly surprised it took as long as it did only in this
case.
In situations like this, there are often people who will say
that I shouldn’t post about this because I need to “stick to sports” or I’m not
an expert in the field or something along those lines. Again, these people really need to research
Ad Hominem and make a greater effort to stop employing logical fallacies to
their arguments. Beyond that, just
because someone isn’t an expert in a field doesn’t mean that they are automatically
discredited from having an opinion.
Anybody is entitled to an opinion when somebody’s life is on the line, especially
when it is a case of somebody not doing their job properly and grabbing a worse
weapon than they threatened to use. Just
because this blog is about basketball doesn’t mean I am limited to talking
about an NBA game. While I frequently
only discuss basketball in this blog, there are times when straying from these
topics is not only good, but also necessary.
Some things are bigger than basketball. Rest in peace Daunte Wright.
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