Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti pushed back on how the NBA has been framing the uptick of injuries in recent season, saying it’s “almost insulting” to argue there’s no correlation between the number of games and player loads and how frequently players are getting hurt.
Presti spoke to reporters Monday ahead of free agency and one week after his team won Game 7 of the NBA Finals to deliver the city its first championship.
That game was marred, however, by Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton‘s Achilles tear in the first quarter. He was the third player to suffer a torn Achilles in the postseason alone, along with Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard and Boston’s Jayson Tatum. In total, the NBA saw seven players tear their Achilles over the course of the season.
“I think the one thing we have to do is get away from the defensive nature of trying to convince people, players and teams that there’s no connection between the loads and the injuries,” Presti said. “I think it’s — we’re kind of bordering on a level of like, it’s almost insulting”
His comment appeared to be directed at NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who told ESPN last week that he doesn’t believe the season is too long and that it’s not clear if the number of games has anything to do with the injuries.
“When we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break,” Silver said. “So, it’s not clear it’s the number of games. And as you know, modern NBA players, even when they’re not playing games sometimes in the summer they’re working harder than they are during the season when they’re playing three games a week.”
Presti mentioned the NBA’s 65-game rule to qualify for certain awards, the condensed schedule due to the advent of the in-season tournament and the recent uptick in physicality allowed by the league as potential factors.
“It’s not a matter of players not wanting to play or being soft or anything like that,” he said. “But I don’t think we should be putting our head in the sand and acting as if there’s no correlation. The reason why is because, if we’re pointing to data — the data is from 20 years ago or 10 years ago. The game is a totally different sport than it was even several years ago because of the amount of possessions, the way the offenses work now. It’s not people standing around the 3-point line waiting for double teams and then the ball to get kicked out. There’s so much movement on every possession. We are playing almost two games compared to 10 years ago.”
According to Silver, the league has been using artificial intelligence in its search for clues about why Achilles injuries happened so often this season. Presti said he hopes the NBA will be less “defensive” in trying to find solutions to the injury issue.
“Putting our heads together and being rational about it and not defensive, trying to produce numbers and data that indicates that the more you play, the more healthy you are.”
