Why injuries are surging across the NBA: a full breakdown

Joseph Kallan

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Why injuries are surging across the NBA: a full breakdown image

The 2025-26 NBA regular season is starting to be labeled as the “injury-prone” season, and nobody really knows why.

Some of the league’s biggest stars are currently sidelined with lower-leg injuries, including Victor Wembanyama, Jalen Brunson and Joel Embiid.

Unfortunately, the names listed above aren’t even half of the growing list that continues to expand each day. As it stands, there are currently 26 different players who have logged at least one game this season who are sidelined with an injury. This doesn’t include the six other players who suffered 2025-26 season-ending setbacks.

This hasn’t just become a matter of players spraining their wrists, getting eye infections, or simply having a tummy ache. This rapid increase of the league’s biggest names is continuing to grow.

Why are soft tissue injuries on the rise?

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently spoke about the NBA’s rigorous schedule, stating how playing 82 games over the course of seven months isn’t the right equation to insert players into.

“Across the league, everyone understands that it's easier to score if you beat the opponent down the floor, get out in transition," Kerr said. "But when everybody's doing that, the games are much higher-paced. Everyone has to cover out to 25 feet because everybody can shoot 3s. We have all the data. Players are running faster and further [than] before.

"We're trying to do the best we can, but we basically have a game every other night. It's not an easy thing to do.”

If you look at how the game is being played, Kerr is right. Team scoring is at an all-time high, pace has rarely reached a higher peak and the goal for teams to compete at an extremely high level in relation to the fans’ experience has remained a constant.

It’s also important to note that the game is vastly different from what it was 20–30 years ago. Players are opting to shoot more 3-pointers. Final scores are no longer reaching below 90 points per game. The 2–12 New Orleans Pelicans are averaging 108 points per game, which still ranks dead last league-wide.

Kerr would go on to say how this season has been the most grueling not just on his players’ bodies, but his, given the amount of miles traveled mixed with practices in between games.

According to ESPN Research, the league is playing at its fastest average collective pace since the 1988–89 season. Players have also combined to travel 34.3 miles per game this season at an average speed of 4.43 mph — the longest average distance and fastest average speed since player tracking began in 2013-14.

One Twitter user voiced his opinion on why lower-leg, especially calf injuries, have become such a problem.

"Calf injuries are everywhere, why? Cause the game has changed," wrote user 1legflamingo. "It’s f—ing faster.

"Calf muscle hates sudden changes in movement: transitions, pull up threes, euro steps, decelerations, step-backs, side steps, even flops lol. The calf is the Achilles’ shock absorber. When it’s tired, the tendon takes the hit. And we know what happens later."

So now that we’ve partially answered where the root of the problem might be occurring, it’s time to ask ourselves another big question: What’s being done about it?

The load management conversation

It’s one of the biggest phrases used in recent years by NBA teams to categorize a player for not suiting up on a particular night. Essentially, a team chooses to rest a player — whether they feel 1% or 99% — to preserve their health moving forward.

The earliest example of this was when the San Antonio Spurs in 2010 intentionally rested players, despite no listed injuries, to have their starting lineup fresh by the postseason.

Fast-forward nearly 15 years, and teams around the league are still using this to their advantage. The Philadelphia 76ers have publicly said they won’t play star center Joel Embiid in back-to-back games, hoping to have him ready for the playoffs. Unfortunately, Embiid has been facing load management throughout his entire career, having dealt with lower-leg injuries since entering the league.

The NBA on NBC’s analysts panel of Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady all touched on the topic of load management following Michael Jordan’s viral comments on the matter.

“Today, I understand why players want to do it, why they need to do it, why they want to preserve their bodies,” Anthony said. “Only when you take advantage of the load management is when I have an issue with it. If you’re hurt, sit out. If you’re not, sit out and play. Let guys who really need the rest and load management take advantage of load management.”

Currently, the Dallas Mavericks are experimenting with this theory for Anthony Davis, who has already missed nine games this season due to a calf strain.

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that reports revealed that former team general manager Nico Harrison tried rushing Davis back on the court despite team doctors' warning that there would be a high risk of him tearing his Achilles tendon.

The urge for front offices to get their star players back on the court at a quicker rate makes sense. The more your “main event” is in front of fans, the more those said fans will pay for a ticket. Therefore, the house always wins.

It’s needless to say, load management hasn’t always done wonders for players’ careers. Embiid still deals with numerous lower-leg injuries, Zion Williamson can’t seem to stay healthy in a Pelicans uniform and Kelly Oubre Jr. — who ranks in the top 15 in minutes per game — is sidelined with a ligament injury in his knee.

What exactly is the solution?

For years, those around the league have opted for shortening the season from 82 games to 72. ESPN and MSG analyst Alan Hahn recently shared his theory for what his solution would be.

The issue is that in doing such, you’d have to decrease player salaries by a significant amount, given their current contracts are suited for an 82-game season. In The Athletic’s most recent anonymous player poll, 85.6% voted no on shortening the regular season if it meant their salary would be smaller.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of shortening the season. It’s a matter of the rest time in between. If you said, ‘We’re just going to eliminate all back-to-backs and make the season longer,’ I think that’s something to consider. When people talk about shortening the season, it’s just a reaction to giving people more rest. But when you talk about making the season longer, it’s tough because of football and TV contracts and all that. That’s what it comes down to.”

Whether it’s shortening the season, readjusting schedules, or removing factors of the game that increase wear and tear on a player, something needs to be done. Otherwise, your next favorite superstar could be out for the next 1–2 weeks.

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Staff Writer