Injuries Becoming Unfortunate Theme of 2014-15 NBA Season
There are so many good stories built to withstand the test of time from the 2014-15 NBA season.
From LeBron James' Cleveland return to Stephen Curry's rise, from the soaring Atlanta Hawks to the overcrowded Western Conference, this campaign hasn't lacked intrigue, drama or excitement.
Or, unfortunately, high-profile injuries.
As good as the show has been inside the lines, it's becoming increasingly difficult to define this year for anything other than those who've been forced out of the action. The injury bug rears its ugly head every season, but its attacks seem unusually focused on the league's premier players this year.
Former MVP Derrick Rose is the latest casualty. The explosive point guard, who's essentially missed the last two seasons with knee injuries, is back on the shelf with yet another knee problem. The Chicago Bulls announced Tuesday that the 26-year-old has a "medial meniscus tear of the right knee." He'll need another surgery and won't have a timetable for his return until he goes under the knife.
Given the health problems he's already endured, Rose's tale is perhaps the season's most tragic. But it's far from an isolated incident. Of the 28 players selected to the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, only six have appeared in all of their team's games.
This is an agonizing look into how this became basketball's year of the injury.
Paul George: Broken Leg
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Before teams even kicked off their training camps, the NBA lost one of its brightest young stars.
Indiana Pacers swingman Paul George suffered a horrific broken leg during Team USA's Blue-White scrimmage on Aug. 1. The 24-year-old hasn't returned to action since, though he recently told Yahoo Sports' Marc J. Spears he hopes to make his season debut in mid-March.
Prior to the injury, George had been pounding on the door to superstardom.
His 2013-14 campaign saw him post career highs in points (21.7) and player efficiency rating (20.1). He made his first appearance both as an All-Star starter and an All-Defensive first-teamer.
With age on his side and elite two-way talent in his back pocket, he may well pick up the pieces where he left off. But physical rehab isn't the only hurdle he'll have to clear on his path back to prominence. He still faces the daunting mental task of building confidence in his ability to put this problem behind him.
"The biggest fear I have is injuring my [left] healthy leg because I'm so used to it being the stronger one and I don't want to overcompensate for it," George told ESPN.com's Darren Rovell. "I got a rod in my other one, so that's stronger than it was before."
The Pacers, who sit just 1.5 games out of the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed, need George back piloting their offense and leading their perimeter defense. But he has to find health of body and mind first.
Kevin Durant: Jones Fracture
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After claiming the league's MVP award last season, Kevin Durant has literally struggled to find his footing this time around.
He has appeared in only 27 of the Oklahoma City Thunder's 57 games, while battling a foot problem that dates back to training camp.
He first had surgery in October for a Jones fracture in his right foot and missed the team's first 17 contests. He recently underwent a second procedure "to help reduce pain and discomfort in his surgically repaired right foot," per ESPN.com's Royce Young.
"There's no new injury that's been created," Thunder general manager Sam Presti said, via Young. "It's just a matter of discomfort."
When Durant has been healthy enough to take the floor, he's been one of the league's most productive players. He and teammate Russell Westbrook are the only players averaging at least 25 points, six rebounds and four assists. Durant has also matched his career-high 51.0 field-goal percentage and posted a 27.7 PER topped only by Westbrook, Anthony Davis and Stephen Curry.
But actually seeing game action has been an issue all season for Durant. In addition to the foot fracture, he's also had problems with a sprained toe and sprained ankle.
During his first seven seasons in the league, he missed a total of 16 games. He's already been out for 30 contests this year, and the entire basketball world hopes that missed-games number won't grow much from here.
Steve Nash: Recurring Back Injury
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It feels like forever and a day since two-time MVP Steve Nash last suited up. For the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately crowd, it might seem even longer.
The 41-year-old's last run came on Apr. 8, 2014. Nerve root irritation limited him to only 15 games last season, and this one ended before it even started. Citing a "recurring back injury," the Los Angeles Lakers ruled Nash out for the year on Oct. 23.
"Being on the court this season has been my top priority and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now," Nash said in the team release. "I work very hard to stay healthy and unfortunately my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult."
The NBA's oldest active player clearly wasn't himself in 2013-14. One of only six players in the league's famed 50/40/90 shooting club, he converted just 38.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and 33.3 percent of his long-range looks. Both his points (6.8) and minutes (20.9) averages dropped to their lowest levels since his rookie year in 1996-97.
This is the final season on Nash's current contract and almost certainly his last in the league. Even if his mind thinks he could endure one last shot at leaving on his terms, his body is sending a different message.
"I think all he knows is that he can't continue to play," Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said, per ESPN Los Angeles' Arash Markazi. "Whenever he feels like he can, he tries to and then he gets set back three or four weeks. There's age, there's life after basketball."
A life the basketball gods may have sent Nash into earlier than he would have liked.
Russell Westbrook: Hand Fracture
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Russell Westbrook has been so brilliant of late, it's almost hard to remember the way his season started.
Early in the second quarter of his second game of the year, OKC's explosive floor general suffered a fracture of the second metacarpal in his right hand. He exited that contest after logging less than nine minutes and then missed each of the team's next 14 outings.
Then, he returned as if nothing ever happened. He played fewer than 24 minutes his first game back and still poured in 32 points on 12-of-17 shooting, dished out eight assists and snagged seven rebounds. Somehow, he's gotten even better as the year has progressed.
His work in the month of February alone has been a museum-quality masterpiece. In 10 games this month, he's averaged 29.5 points, 10.1 assists, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals while compiling a boiling-hot .487/.389/.927 shooting slash. The Thunder are 9-1 this month, despite only having Durant available for five of those games.
In the midst of this torrid run, Westbrook also claimed All-Star Game MVP honors after erupting for 41 points (including a record-setting 27 points in the first half alone).
"This month has served as a convincing statement on his abilities," Yahoo Sports' Eric Freeman wrote of Westbrook. "When called upon, Westbrook is perfectly capable of serving as the Thunder's primary scorer and facilitator. He's as essential to the franchise's title hopes as is his co-star."
DeMar DeRozan: Torn Groin Tendon
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Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan had been fortunate to elude the injury bug at the start of his career. Through his first five NBA seasons, he missed a total of only 11 games.
But once the bug found him, it bit him hard—in one of the most painful areas imaginable. After DeRozan made an early exit from Toronto's Nov. 28 tilt with the Dallas Mavericks, testing revealed he'd suffered a torn left adductor longus tendon. That's a torn groin tendon in layman's terms.
As excruciating as that sounds for anyone, it had to be particularly agonizing for a player who leans heavily on his explosive athleticism. The injury sidelined him for 21 straight games.
He's had a rough go of things since making his return too. Last season, he booked his first-ever All-Star trip and averaged 22.7 points on 42.9 percent shooting. In the 20 games he's played since getting back on the court, those numbers are only 17 and 39.4, respectively.
"It's just a matter of getting back to playing consistently. ... To be out that long and not playing, that’s the longest I have ever been out since I was about 10 years old," DeRozan said, per Eric Koreen of the National Post. "It's getting there, but my confidence is there."
That's one of the real worries with injuries. It's not only about the games these players miss, but also the way in which they're impacted after their return.
For DeRozan, whose PER has fallen to 15.5 from last season's 18.4, this appears to be an ongoing challenge.
Jabari Parker: Torn ACL
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It sounds strange to say this now, but Andrew Wiggins securing this season's Rookie of the Year award wasn't always a forgone conclusion.
Not when Milwaukee Bucks freshman Jabari Parker was busy scoring to the tune of 12.3 points per game on 49 percent shooting. The No. 2 pick lived up to his predraft billing as an offensive machine, reaching the 15-point mark seven different times in the first 23 games of his career.
But during his 25th outing, Parker's left knee buckled on a third-quarter drive to the basket. The Bucks announced on Dec. 16 that their star rookie had suffered a torn ACL in his left knee.
Without Parker around, Wiggins has cruised to the top of this rookie class. The Minnesota Timberwolves' rising star has earned each of the three Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards, while the East has seen a different winner every time (Parker in October/November, Nikola Mirotic in December and Elfrid Payton in January).
Parker could have kept the Rookie of the Year race a two-player affair. More importantly, Milwaukee could have used his offense. After the Bucks dealt Brandon Knight at the deadline, Parker's 12.3 points per game now sits atop the team's scoring list.
Kobe Bryant: Torn Rotator Cuff
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Officially, Kobe Bryant's season ended with the torn rotator cuff he suffered in his right shoulder on Jan. 21. But the injury itself surfaced long before it actually removed him from the floor.
Sources told ESPN.com's Ramona Shelburne that Bryant first injured the shoulder during preseason. The five-time champion later admitted he'd tried playing through the pain.
"I just kept tearing it more and more," he said during an interview with NBA TV's Ahmad Rashad.
Bryant's stat sheet suggested that something was wrong.
While he was one of only five players averaging at least 22 points, five assists and five rebounds, he was also shooting a career-worst 37.3 percent from the field. His 17.7 PER was the lowest it had been since he was a preps-to-pros rookie in 1996-97 (not counting last season's six-game stint).
But his struggles weren't initially attached to any health problems. Some saw them as evidence that Father Time had caught up to the 36-year-old. Others attributed them to the lack of offensive weapons around him, the scars left from a one-man fight against reality.
Either of those theories would have been preferable to what had actually taken place. For the third straight season, Bryant will finish his year on the sideline. A torn Achilles previously cut his 2012-13 campaign short, and that injury plus a fracture in his left knee basically cost him all of last season.
Dwight Howard: Edema in Right Knee
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Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard made a nine-minute appearance on Jan. 23 and hasn't been seen in action since. It could be a while before Space City sees its premier paint protector again.
He had a bone marrow aspirate injection in his swollen right knee earlier this month. He said he expects to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, per Mark Berman of Fox 26.
Something had seemed a little off with Superman all season. He was still putting up numbers, but they weren't quite what we've come to expect. His points (16.3) were as low as they'd been since his second season, and his 11 rebounds and 18.1 PER were his lowest since his rookie year. For the first time since 2006-07, Howard did not make the All-Star Game.
He admitted he hasn't been able to be himself all season.
"There are some things that were tolerable, but for me this season I just wasn't there," he said, per Jenny Dial Creech of the Houston Chronicle. "And I could feel it every single night."
That didn't halt his production, but it did slow him down. The Rockets need him at full speed if they hope to make a championship run, so they'll likely proceed with caution when it comes to bringing him back in the mix.
Carmelo Anthony: Partial Tear of Left Knee Tendon
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Carmelo Anthony's lengthy battle with soreness in his left knee lasted even longer than we realized.
The high-scoring forward reportedly had a "partial tear of the left patellar tendon" for the majority of this season, per Marc Berman of the New York Post. He finally underwent surgery to address the issue, but not before playing 40 games for the New York Knicks and logging more than 30 minutes during the Big Apple-based All-Star Game.
Knicks president Phil Jackson said Anthony could be out four to six months, per ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk. Even if Anthony needs the full six months, that would get him back in action before the team's training camp. But it's hard to say where he'd be with his conditioning by that point if his rehab goes slowly.
The Knicks have no immediate need for his services. With a record of 10-45, New York's only focus this season should be positioning itself to receive the best draft pick possible. Anthony, who was averaging more than twice as many points as the team's second-best scorer, wasn't going to help that pursuit.
But the Knicks have to hope this problem doesn't follow him past this season. The 30-year-old is set to collect more than $100 million over the next four seasons, assuming he exercises his player option for 2018-19.
Chris Bosh: Blood Clot on Lung
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The injuries on this list have likely inspired different emotional reactions, including sadness, frustration and disappointment.
For Miami Heat All-Star forward Chris Bosh, the feeling that emerged from his health scare was one of pure terror. The 30-year-old was recently ruled out for the remainder of the season while undergoing treatment for blood clots on his lung, the Heat announced.
The news came just days after the basketball world lost Portland Trail Blazers great Jerome Kersey to a pulmonary embolism caused by a blood clot in his lungs.
"This is bigger than basketball, obviously," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, per Dave George of The Palm Beach Post.
The good news is that Bosh is reportedly making progress with his recovery. Spoelstra said Bosh will be leaving the hospital "soon," per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (via NBA.com), and added that the big guy is "getting a little bit better."
On the court, the Heat won't be able to replace his production. They might open some new avenues to scoring and rebounding, but they won't find another player with Bosh's size (6'11"), shooting range and defensive versatility.
But like Spoelstra said, that's only a footnote to the real story here.
Derrick Rose: Torn Meniscus
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Derrick Rose's latest injury is a brutal blow to him, the Bulls and the basketball world at large.
Whether a fan of Rose or not, you had to respect his work ethic. The torn ACL he suffered in the 2012 playoffs didn't derail him, and neither did the torn meniscus he endured just 10 games into his return last season. It's still possible this latest setback—the severity of which is not yet known—is just another steppingstone on his way back to the top.
But you have to feel for him. You know what he's been through these last few years. And try as you might, you can't quiet the questions about whether we've already seen his best basketball.
"Coming back from one serious knee injury is a massive accomplishment, let alone two. Three is a tall order," wrote Bleacher Report's Sean Highkin. "Rose can believe that he'll return to his 2011-era peak, and he can work tirelessly to get there. But if his body isn't up to it, there's nothing his mind can do about that."
As expected, this has been an up-and-down season for Rose. But he entered the All-Star break on a high note, having tallied 21.5 points on 44.3 percent shooting with 5.7 assists in his last six games leading up to intermission. He struggled on the other side of it (10.7 points on 23.5 percent shooting his last three outings), but there was still hope he might be figuring things out.
And now this. More questions, more concerns, more thoughts and condolences being sent the Windy City's way.
The NBA is in a better place when Rose is in a prominent role. But serving as the face of a season defined by injury isn't the role he deserves.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
