The NBA had already convened a panel of experts to study Achilles tendon injuries even before ruptured his in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday night.
The league had seven known Achilles injuries this season 鈥� Pacers forwards James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson, New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray and Miami guard Dru Smith had them in the regular season, and Boston's Jayson Tatum, Milwaukee's Damian Lillard and Haliburton were hurt in the playoffs.
Silver, speaking to ESPN as part of its NBA draft coverage, said there weren't any in the NBA in the previous season.
鈥淲e had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese鈥檚 most recent Achilles rupture,鈥� Silver said on the telecast. 鈥淲e had seven this year. We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances. The most we鈥檝e ever had in a season is four.鈥�
The injuries led to a question that has come up more and more in recent years: Is the NBA season too long? Silver doesn't believe that is the case, and wonders if the way young players train and how hard NBA players train in the offseason is putting too much strain on bodies.
鈥淲hen we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break,鈥� Silver said. 鈥淪o, it鈥檚 not clear it鈥檚 the number of games. And as you know, modern NBA players, even when they鈥檙e not playing games sometimes in the summer they鈥檙e working harder than they are during the season when they鈥檙e playing three games a week.鈥�
Haliburton got hurt in the first quarter of Game 7, one where Indiana went on to lose to Oklahoma City. A day later, after having surgery, Haliburton said he doesn't regret the choice to play through a strained calf 鈥� which some suspect could have played a role in the Achilles injury.
Silver said the league is even using artificial intelligence in its search for clues about why the injury happened so often this season.
鈥淚鈥檓 hopeful that by looking at more data, by looking at patterns, this is one area where A.I. 鈥� people are talking about how that鈥檚 going to transform so many areas 鈥� the ability with A.I. to ingest all video of every game a player鈥檚 played in to see if you can detect some pattern that we didn鈥檛 realize that leads to an Achilles injury,鈥� Silver said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking it very seriously.鈥�
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AP NBA:
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
