Like it or not, injuries play a major role in the power balance of the NBA. The super teams of the league know this well. The Lakers and Nets have kept their superstars off the court more often than on it, nursing their injuries to ensure full health by the playoffs. In this COVID-compressed season, injuries have been even more impactful than usual as players take on more games with less rest, a combo that can often lead to devastating outcomes. With that in mind, I’ve highlighted a few of the most impactful recent injury situations to watch as we gear up for the NBA playoffs.
Jamal Murray’s devastating season-ender
Just as Denver was finding its stride, the unthinkable happened. Jamal Murray, their star guard and brilliant sidekick to MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, went down with an ACL tear. This injury implies that he will not only miss the rest of this season, but a chunk of next season as well. The young star is crucial to Denver. His scoring and creation ability gives Denver the ceiling they need to compete at a championship level. He was a big reason for the team finding its groove, and he was looking more and more like the superstar Murray we saw in the NBA bubble when the Nuggets made it to the Western Conference Finals. Without Murray, this team is suddenly incredibly shallow, having given up ample depth for the recent acquisition of Aaron Gordon. Look for Denver to slide a bit and play more like a .500 team headed into the playoffs. Jokic is brilliant enough to carry this team through a playoff series, but I doubt the Nuggets’ longevity in the postseason. There is now an undisputed top-four bunch at the top of the Western Conference in both Los Angeles teams, Utah and Phoenix.
Rookie James Wiseman’s meniscus tear
Golden State was scratching and clawing to maintain a .500 record going into last week when disaster struck. Rookie center and 2020 No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman suffered a season-ending injury. For the future, this is a concerning development for a Warriors team hoping to vault itself back into finals contender status with Klay Thompson’s return next season. Wiseman is incredibly young and in need of close attention to properly develop into the star he was drafted to be. This injury is a bump in the road for him, and may cause the Warriors to face some long-needed reckoning. Are they building for the future or optimizing their chances now? The lack of Wiseman in recent games has led the Warriors to play more comfortably in their old schemes from their championship days, and it could wind up being addition by subtraction in the short term. The Warriors are a likely play-in team, and without Wiseman to develop, they may find a more concrete identity to stick to going into the playoffs, at the potential cost of greater success a couple of years down the road.
Brooklyn sitting stars seemingly every game
Getting to see Brooklyn’s big three intact is like seeing a unicorn. It never happens, but it’s the stuff of legends. We all know Brooklyn’s upside with James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving all on the floor. It promises to be the most potent offense the league has ever seen. But with 1–2 of the superstars sitting seemingly every game, I struggle to envision how much chemistry they can develop before the playoffs begin. These are all incredibly talented players who will surely make things work on a system and schematics level, but it could make their playoffs rockier than some may project. I expect these sporadic injuries to impact their ability to clean up the first and second rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs as easily as they should. If we see them play six games instead of four in the first round, the ensuing lack of rest against teams like Miami or Philadelphia could come back to bite them.
