Official NBA General Discussion 2025-26 V2.0

[MiamiSPX]

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[WaltFrazier]

Knicks should do everything they can to convert Towns into AD. If they somehow manage to do that....they could win the chip.

Not Impossible. AD's stock has never been this low.

Only thing is, AD is what, 32, and injury prone. Healthy AD from 2020 for sure. KAT is more durable, but swings between great games like Friday night and not good like last night. His D is pretty bad and he commits dumb fouls. Great offensive skill though and a good rebounder

[brownbobcat]

I'm convinced all these soft tissue injuries are because of whatever synthetic additives/supplements these guys are taking

There has to be an explanation. And it's turning into an existential question for the league. It's by far the biggest threat to the success of the league.

Paul Pierce and KG both agreed that it's the absence of scrimmaging. Another reasonable theory is that the 3 point shooting has changed the sport so that there is far more sprinting and ground covered per game. It sounds plausible to suggest that men at this size cannot run like this without regular injuries.

It's never been like this before.

I wonder if eliminating the corner 3 might solve this problem too. As soon as you stop offenses from spreading the floor...the boring as heck "5 out" celtics offense....there will be alot more bunching up like the old days. Less running. More halfcourt stagnation.

I'm personally convinced that it's the pace of play. Teams are playing way faster than they used to. It would make sense to me if all of the extra running, jumping, and falling down would increase "wear and tear" type injuries.

It wouldn't surprise me. Quick acceleration/deceleration, hard pivots and changes in direction are all highly linked to those kinds of injuries. Yes, the 80s had high pace too, but players weren't making the same kinds of cuts and stops like they are today.

[Tha Cynic]

OKC's offense is 125.4 with Shai on, and 103 with him off.

Denver's offense is 127.5 with Jokic on, and 107.3 off

Giannis 123.5 and 102.1 off

In an MVP context these guys seem like the clear favourites and also potentially highlighting serious vulnerabilities to injury for each team.

At least OKC has Williams coming back at some point who can offset some of Shai.

The others...nope.

Williams is not offsetting Shai

[MiamiSPX]

OKC has Utah's 1st rounder if it falls out of the top 8, and they have the LAC unprotected. Potentially another 2 lottery picks after winning the title again (my not-so-bold prediction).

[UnbelievablyRAW]

OKC's offense is 125.4 with Shai on, and 103 with him off.

Denver's offense is 127.5 with Jokic on, and 107.3 off

Giannis 123.5 and 102.1 off

In an MVP context these guys seem like the clear favourites and also potentially highlighting serious vulnerabilities to injury for each team.

At least OKC has Williams coming back at some point who can offset some of Shai.

The others...nope.

Williams is not offsetting Shai

I mean, the Shai off numbers will definitely be better with healthy JDub back

[PushDaRock]

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Looks like it will be a lot more difficult to "rest" guys this year. You likely will need to sustain major injuries or build an actual horrid roster in order to tank.

[PushDaRock]

There has to be an explanation. And it's turning into an existential question for the league. It's by far the biggest threat to the success of the league.

Paul Pierce and KG both agreed that it's the absence of scrimmaging. Another reasonable theory is that the 3 point shooting has changed the sport so that there is far more sprinting and ground covered per game. It sounds plausible to suggest that men at this size cannot run like this without regular injuries.

It's never been like this before.

I wonder if eliminating the corner 3 might solve this problem too. As soon as you stop offenses from spreading the floor...the boring as heck "5 out" celtics offense....there will be alot more bunching up like the old days. Less running. More halfcourt stagnation.

I'm personally convinced that it's the pace of play. Teams are playing way faster than they used to. It would make sense to me if all of the extra running, jumping, and falling down would increase "wear and tear" type injuries.

It wouldn't surprise me. Quick acceleration/deceleration, hard pivots and changes in direction are all highly linked to those kinds of injuries. Yes, the 80s had high pace too, but players weren't making the same kinds of cuts and stops like they are today.

Yup, when have you even heard of a sprinter tearing their ACL? Just doesn't happen really because you don't need to plant and change directions quickly. The way the game is played today is just different. I don't know what they can really do unless the game goes back to half court ISO play every possession. You kind of just have to accept that playing Basketball is not a natural thing to be doing and injuries will happen at a pretty high rate. No different than pitchers throwing a baseball at high velocities inevitably destroying their arms.

[Tripod]

OKC's offense is 125.4 with Shai on, and 103 with him off.

Denver's offense is 127.5 with Jokic on, and 107.3 off

Giannis 123.5 and 102.1 off

In an MVP context these guys seem like the clear favourites and also potentially highlighting serious vulnerabilities to injury for each team.

At least OKC has Williams coming back at some point who can offset some of Shai.

The others...nope.

Williams is not offsetting Shai

Good job I said "can offset SOME of Shai".

[LLJ]

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Looks like it will be a lot more difficult to "rest" guys this year. You likely will need to sustain major injuries or build an actual horrid roster in order to tank.

You gotta make up phantom injuries. The Raptors mastered this game better than anyone last year. Nobody who missed games last year was "resting". They were always "injured". You do not publicly say you are going to "rest" players to save them for a different game, you have to actually say they are hurt to dodge the fines.

[PushDaRock]

Read on Twitter

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Looks like it will be a lot more difficult to "rest" guys this year. You likely will need to sustain major injuries or build an actual horrid roster in order to tank.

You gotta make up phantom injuries. The Raptors mastered this game better than anyone last year. You do not publicly say you are going to "rest" players to save them for a different game, you have to actually say they are hurt to dodge the fines.

Faking injuries won't be happening too much this year. The medicals will need to check out and the league will be investigating the legitimacy of injuries even more this year. The scrutiny is at All-time highs not just because of the optics of tanking but because of sports betting.

[TheAlchemist23]

Tristan da Silva is so good, he's basically a Franz Wagner clone

[Psubs]

Tristan da Silva is so good, he's basically a Franz Wagner clone

I wanted to draft him but he was drafted right before Jakobe.

[brownbobcat]

Yup, when have you even heard of a sprinter tearing their ACL? Just doesn't happen really because you don't need to plant and change directions quickly. The way the game is played today is just different. I don't know what they can really do unless the game goes back to half court ISO play every possession. You kind of just have to accept that playing Basketball is not a natural thing to be doing and injuries will happen at a pretty high rate. No different than pitchers throwing a baseball at high velocities inevitably destroying their arms.

I'm not sure, but injuries to stars kills the game. Load management also sucks since fans miss out on some games.

In baseball, you had the evolution of lower pitch counts but it wasn't just for injury prevention - it was also shown to be more effective to rely on relief pitchers.

I'm not sure what the solution is for the NBA. Fewer fouls per game? That would force a greater use of the bench.

[PushDaRock]

Yup, when have you even heard of a sprinter tearing their ACL? Just doesn't happen really because you don't need to plant and change directions quickly. The way the game is played today is just different. I don't know what they can really do unless the game goes back to half court ISO play every possession. You kind of just have to accept that playing Basketball is not a natural thing to be doing and injuries will happen at a pretty high rate. No different than pitchers throwing a baseball at high velocities inevitably destroying their arms.

I'm not sure, but injuries to stars kills the game. Load management also sucks since fans miss out on some games.

In baseball, you had the evolution of lower pitch counts but it wasn't just for injury prevention - it was also shown to be more effective to rely on relief pitchers.

I'm not sure what the solution is for the NBA. Fewer fouls per game? That would force a greater use of the bench.

Stars have the ball the most and are driving play, they're just naturally going to be at more risk to injury than a 3&D guy that just sits in the corner and doesn't drive to the basket.

Don't love the fewer fouls idea. I don't think you want to give refs even more power to impact the game than they already do.

[Zeno]

Yup, when have you even heard of a sprinter tearing their ACL? Just doesn't happen really because you don't need to plant and change directions quickly. The way the game is played today is just different. I don't know what they can really do unless the game goes back to half court ISO play every possession. You kind of just have to accept that playing Basketball is not a natural thing to be doing and injuries will happen at a pretty high rate. No different than pitchers throwing a baseball at high velocities inevitably destroying their arms.

I'm not sure, but injuries to stars kills the game. Load management also sucks since fans miss out on some games.

In baseball, you had the evolution of lower pitch counts but it wasn't just for injury prevention - it was also shown to be more effective to rely on relief pitchers.

I'm not sure what the solution is for the NBA. Fewer fouls per game? That would force a greater use of the bench.

Stars have the ball the most and are driving play, they're just naturally going to be at more risk to injury than a 3&D guy that just sits in the corner and doesn't drive to the basket.

Don't love the fewer fouls idea. I don't think you want to give refs even more power to impact the game than they already do.

I don’t think the nba is going to be able to limit injuries through rule changes. I mean if they wanted to limit pace, they could conceivably throw out some kind of offside type call but that would absolutely horrible for the game. I think it is up to teams to adjust how they play guys. Shorter stints on court would likely help to a degree as would lower total minutes.

[PushDaRock]

I'm not sure, but injuries to stars kills the game. Load management also sucks since fans miss out on some games.

In baseball, you had the evolution of lower pitch counts but it wasn't just for injury prevention - it was also shown to be more effective to rely on relief pitchers.

I'm not sure what the solution is for the NBA. Fewer fouls per game? That would force a greater use of the bench.

Stars have the ball the most and are driving play, they're just naturally going to be at more risk to injury than a 3&D guy that just sits in the corner and doesn't drive to the basket.

Don't love the fewer fouls idea. I don't think you want to give refs even more power to impact the game than they already do.

I don’t think the nba is going to be able to limit injuries through rule changes. I mean if they wanted to limit pace, they could conceivably throw out some kind of offside type call but that would absolutely horrible for the game. I think it is up to teams to adjust how they play guys. Shorter stints on court would likely help to a degree as would lower total minutes.

Yeah, I think it's up to teams themselves to come up with these injury prevention strategies on their own. The better teams who are blowing teams out more frequently and the ones with more depth in theory should be less likely to get injured since they're typically having mins more spread out among the entire team and the mins are less taxing and under less stress playing in less close games.

Common sense would dictate that the more frequently you're redlining (max effort/full speed), the more at risk you are to injuries.

[TheAlchemist23]

Watched the Pistons this evening, Cade is still mid, it's the other guys (Duran mainly, but also Ausar Thompson and some randoms) who stepped up.

[HumbleRen]

Jalen Duren scares me, Dwight Howard esque.

[Landomar]

Jalen Duren scares me, Dwight Howard esque.

Yeah, Duren has improved a lot and is at another level this year. He's been one of the best centers in the NBA so far.