Adam Silver Says NBA Looking Into Injury Causes After Haliburton, Tatum Achilles Tears
The NBA has a raised eye toward the notable Achilles injuries suffered this season.
During an appearance on ESPN's pre-NBA Draft show, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke about the notable Achilles injuries suffered by Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Boston Celtics guard Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard, among others. He said the league has met with experts and are looking to alleviate the issue.
"We are looking at it and in fact we had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese's most recent Achilles rupture," Silver said. "We had seven this year, we had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we have ever had in a season is four. The NFL has Achilles issues as well, so the purpose of convening with those experts is to figure out what is going on."
Silver explained that the number of games in a season and the minimum's to qualify for awards can not be clearly a reason for the injuries and some of it may have to do with intense offseason training and the specialization among young athletes.
"It's not clear it's the number of games," Silver said. "Modern NBA players, even when they are not playing games, they are working harder than they are during the season when they are playing three days a week. Some experts believe it may have more to with youth basketball, it may have as much to do with when they are 10-19 and specializing in a single sport."
In addition to Haliburton, Tatum and Lillard, Dejounte Murray, Isaiah Jackson, Dru Smith and several others also suffered the injury. Other players, like Kyrie Irving and Moritz Wagner, suffered similarly devastating knee injuries.
Haliburton suffered his injury in Game 7 of the NBA Finals and had also led the Pacers to the Conference finals in 2023-24. He was also notably on Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Tatum suffered the injury in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. He had also played for Team USA and led the Celtics to the 2023-24 NBA Championship.
Haliburton is 25-years-old, Tatum is 27-years old and players like Murray are in a similar age range at 28. While 2024-25 could be an anomaly, Silver and the league will look to see if any of these injuries could be prevented going forward.
