The Most Injury-Prone Player from Every NBA Team

In the NBA, a team can have its season completely derailed from an injury, more so than any other professional sport out there.

Sure, losing a quarterback or the guy batting in your three-hole in baseball would be pretty debilitating to a football or baseball team, but when you lose your most important guy in basketball, it is a disaster.

There are only five guys on the floor at a time, so just like that, you are eliminating one-fifth of the players you have out there.

Most recently, the Houston Rockets have felt the effects of this first hand with Yao Ming going down to injuries in each of the previous two seasons, finally retiring just  a few weeks ago.

So out of curiosity of the durability of every team, I went out and found each team's most injury-prone player.  I only picked players who are currently under contract or have been offered contracts by teams.

Atlanta Hawks: Kirk Hinrich

For the first five years of his career, Kirk Hinrich was a very effective point guard starting for the Chicago Bulls.

Well, with the arrival of the Chicago Bulls and several nagging injuries, Hinrich has taken a downturn in production and is currently a shell of his former self.

He was most recently injured in the playoffs this season when he strained his hamstring in the fourth quarter of the series-clinching game against the Orlando Magic.

Boston Celtics: Jermaine O'Neal

For only five years during the peak of his career was Jermaine O'Neal healthy.  He was one of the best big men in the game, but after the brawl against the Pistons in November of 2004, the wheels fell off.

He played only 44 games that season due to the subsequent suspension and nagging injuries, followed by seasons of 51, 69, 43, 68, 70 and 24 games.

O'Neal is a walking boot waiting to happen at this point.

Charlotte Bobcats: Joel Przybilla

Playing for the Blazers is hell on knees.  Whether they have shoddy medical technicians or just the worst injury luck you've ever seen, dating back to Bil Walton, Blazers players have had troubles with their lower bodies.

Joel Przybilla ruptured and dislocated his patella in Portland back in 2009, requiring surgery, then he injured it again in 2010 when he slipped and fell in the shower.

At this point, Przybilla is traction waiting to happen.

Chicago Bulls: Carlos Boozer

For a while it seemed as if Carlos Boozer was built like a rock, and when I say for a while, I mean like two full seasons.

In his first season with the Jazz, he missed 31 games due to a foot injury, but I like to think it was due to karma. The following season, Boozer was still nagged by the injury and hurt his hamstring, keeping him out of action until February.

Boozer was able to play two full healthy seasons before needing knee surgery in 2008, keeping him out of 44 games.

After another season of actually playing the whole thing, Boozer broke his hand in the preseason before he played a single game with the Bulls and was sidelined for two months.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Baron Davis

There are two types of injuries Baron Davis has suffered in the past, bodily and mentally.

In the bodily category, Davis tore his ACL in college, which many say can't be fully recovered from and has just had many nagging injuries throughout his career, including a series of injuries that held him to just 46 and 54 games in 2005 and 2006.

The biggest problem that Davis presents, however is the injuries that happen inside his skull.  He is known to be a sulker, and when he is on a bad team, he will constantly phone games in and start looking for the nearest buffet immediately afterward.

Dallas Mavericks: Shawn Marion

The Dallas Mavericks are one of the oldest teams in the NBA, and of those old guys, Shawn Marion is one of them.

He hasn't missed too many games in his career, but he was held out of nearly 20 games in 2008 and a dozen in 2009 with various injuries.

Marion is just a guy that constantly seems to be getting this or that hurt, not usually enough to keep him out for extended periods of time but long enough to see him feel the effects.

Denver Nuggets: Chris Andersen

After mostly healthy seasons earlier in his career, Chris Andersen started to look a bit more fragile after his two-year suspension for drug use back in 2006.

Andersen's very aggressive style of play led to him having surgery on his patella last offseason, and then a hard fall on the floor led to a back injury that kept him out of another handful of games later in the season.

Detroit Pistons: Richard Hamilton

Richard Hamilton has been very injury prone in his career, but he didn't start missing significant game time until just recently.

Starting back in college, Hamilton broke his nose left and right, which finally led to him wearing his trademark facemask after breaking his nose twice in 2003.

More recently, he has been nagged by various injuries, playing just 67, 46 and 55 games in the past three seasons.

Golden State Warriors: Andris Biedrins

Andris Biedrins is one of the most promising young big men in the NBA, and if he could stay on the court he could make a real impact.

The tough Latvian was relatively healthy for his first four seasons, but he has been limping ever since, playing 62, 33 and 59 games in his next three.

His back has nagged him throughout his career, and that coupled with his groin are the biggest reasons for missed games in the past two seasons along with an ankle injury that ended his season last year.

Houston Rockets: Kyle Lowry

The Rockets have been a relatively healthy team in the past few seasons, with Yao Ming being the exception of course, so now they mostly have guys who can stay on the court.

If there was an injury prone guy on their team it would be Kyle Lowry, who broke his wrist back in 2006 against the Cleveland Cavaliers and has just had some bumps and bruises from time-to-time in the past two seasons.

Indiana Pacers: Danny Granger

Danny Granger is a player with superstar-like abilities but just can't seem to get over the hump of just being a very good player. One reason may be injuries.

Granger played most of the games in his first three seasons, but since then, he has had two seasons where he didn't play more than 67.

He was out for a handful of weeks with a torn right plantar facia, which was a huge loss for the Pacers, then last year, he came into the season a bit beat up and missed a game near the beginning of the season with an ankle injury that nagged at him for a bit.

Los Angeles Clippers: Blake Griffin

Blake Griffin made everyone forget about the fact that he missed a full season after being drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers.

He broke his kneecap going into the 2009-10 season, leading to many speculations that he was damaged goods.

The combination of his reckless style of play and the fact that he plays for the Clippers, the most unlucky team in the history of sport should be enough to make most people think that he could go down at any time with another season-ender.

Los Angeles Lakers: Andrew Bynum

Bynum has the ability to challenge Dwight Howard for his best big man title, but he needs to stay on the court long enough to develop some sense of consistency.

He was out in 2008 after dislocating his left kneecap, which required surgery and hasn't played more than 65 games in a season since, tearing his MCL and meniscus.

Memphis Grizzlies: Tony Allen

The one-time enigma turned defensive stalwart was an enigma for much of his career prior to joining the Memphis Grizzlies due to injuries dating back to 2005.

He severely injured his right knee in 2005 and then tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee in 2007.

Following those injuries, Allen struggled to reinvent his game as he once relied more on explosiveness rather than guile, but he has completely revamped himself at this point in his career.

Miami Heat: Zydrunas Ilguaskas

Zydrunas Ilgauskas' feet are held together with more screws and staples at this point than with ligaments.

Big Z didn't play a game during his "rookie" season back in 1997 and then followed a full season of play in 1998 with a season where he played five games in 1999.  To round out his injury-prone youth, Z played in just 24 games in 2000.

He doesn't get hurt for extended periods of time as much these days, but he still gets hit with nicks and knacks every now and again that slow him down to about a snail's or sloth's pace.

Milwuakee Bucks: Shaun Livingston

If a guy's kneecap exploded on live television, I think it's safe to say that he's still pretty injury prone.

Livingston dislocated his kneecap and churned about as many stomachs as a nine-day-old clam chowder when he landed awkwardly coming down from a layup in a game against the Charlotte Bobcats back in 2007. 

He tore his ACL and PCL plus his meniscus, sprained his MCL and dislocated his patella and tibia-femeral joint.

You know when a guy is hurting things that you've never even heard of (tibia-femeral joint anyone?) that he's suffered a gnarly injury.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Brad Miller

Brad Miller has played in a lot of games since signing with the Hornets as an undrafted free agent back in 1999.

However, he has had a season here and there where he played fewer than 70 games because of a series of nagging injuries, including 2001, 2005 and 2007.

At this point, Brad Miller is a fat old man, and it's hard to imagine that he can continue to play at a decent level of output and not hurt himself.

New Jersey Nets: Travis Outlaw

Travis Outlaw has compiled a pretty good career as a role player in the NBA.  He does what he's asked to do and doesn't complain when he doesn't get to do more.

The only problem that Outlaw has faced in his career is a few nagging injuries here and there, culminating to 2010 when he suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the first half of the season.

Stress fractures can be tricky because it seems like it's about a 50-50 shot of reaggrivating the injury.

New Orleans Hornets: Chris Paul

After winning the Rookie of the Year award back in 2006, Chris Paul suffered a season where he was out of three or four games every three weeks or so in 2007, but that wasn't the worst of his injury problems in his career.

Paul hurt his knee in two consecutive games in January of 2010 which turned out to be a torn meniscus after an MRI.  He spent nearly two months in street clothes after arthroscopic knee surgery.

New York Knicks: Amar'e Stoudemire

Never in my life have I seen an eye pop out a socket, and I'm pretty sure that I don't want to see it, but if you want to know what it looks like just ask Amar'e Stoudemire. 

I would wager a guess that it's not like you see in cartoons with an eye just hanging from your optic nerve, but it still can't look very pretty.

Other than the eye problems, Stoudemire has had many notable knee problems, the most serious happening with his first arthroscopic knee surgery back in the beginning of the 2006 season when he only played three games all season long.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Kendrick Perkins

After showing a strong six out of his first seven seasons relatively injury free, the injury bug finally bit Kendrick Perkins at the most inopportune time.

In Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals, Perkins injured his knee early and missed the rest of the game.  He would be held out of Game 7, in which the Lakers would go on to beat the Boston Celtics.

After the game, it was revealed that he suffered a torn PCL and MCL, not to return until January of this year.

Orlando Magic: Gilbert Arenas

If you consider stupidity and injury, then Gilbert is a very injury-prone player. Otherwise, he just seems to attract some limps every now and then.

He missed most of his first season with the Warriors due to an abdominal strain, he played only 13 games in 2008 due to knee injuries and later a torn ACL, which kept him out of much of the following season.

Philadelphia 76ers: Elton Brand

For much of the first half of his career, Elton Brand was one of the best big men in the game until injuries and playing for the Clippers started to slow him down.

Brand ruptured his Achilles tendon in 2008, causing him to miss all but eight games, and the following year, he would only appear in 29 games after suffering a shoulder injury that would later need surgery.

Phoenix Suns: Josh Childress

Josh Childress has shown many flashes of brilliance in his short, five-year career, but he has been derailed by injuries recently that have really slowed his production.

In between separate stints in the NBA, Childress played in Europe getting tons of money in the process but possibly putting unnecessary wear and tear on his body, which has been wobbly since coming back from overseas.

Portland Trail Blazers: Greg Oden

Any surprise here? Can we just move on?

You all know the song and dance by now, Greg Oden was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick back in 2007 and has missed three times as many games as he has played.

He hasn't played a full season yet, combining for just 82 games played and has been completely out for two full seasons.

Sacramento Kings: Francisco Garcia

Francisco Garcia has looked like a very good basketball player at times, but he hasn't been completely healthy in over three years.

Back in 2009 he broke his forearm in October while he was lifting weights, and last season he suffered a calf injury that kept him out of a jersey for weeks.

San Antonio Spurs: Antonio McDyess

Antonio McDyess has rarely been injured in his seemingly eons long career, but just looking at him would make any rational person think that he is going to fall apart.

Aside from the fact that he looks to bee somewhere around 74 years old, McDyess seems to limp up and down the court. Plus, you can almost hear his bones creak when he moves.

Toronto Raptors: Jose Calderon

Jose Calderon has been a very impressive offensive point guard in his time in the NBA despite some mental lapses and his many injuries.

Calderon has played in exactly 68 games in three straight seasons, most recently hampered because of a calf injury that kept him out of games here and there.

Utah Jazz: Mehmet Okur

Mehmet Okur has been a very healthy player until last season when the wheels fell off, and his foot nearly did the same.

The big Turk ruptured his Achilles tendon in the playoffs back in 2010 which kept him out of half of this past season. 

He came back to play 13 games but then went down again from injuries stemming from the Achilles rupture and some back problems.

Washington Wizards: Trevor Booker

There aren't many things ailing the very young Washington Wizards, but if they had an injury-prone player it would either be John Wall or Trevor Booker.

Wall was just out to some ticky-tack injuries every once in a while last season, so I'll go with Booker who went down last season.

As a surprisingly effective player last year, Booker went down near the end of March with a crack in a bone in his foot.