Kelly Iko NBA reporter Tue, November 3, 2026 at 5:09 PM UTC · 7 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Standing near half-court with a towel draped over his shoulders, Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein attempted to drum up encouragement for his rookie deputy Aday Mara as he approached the bench. Teammates Micah Peavy and Bennett Stirtz waited to do the same, while occasionally tilting their heads back at the jumbotron, which flashed a deficit of nearly 20 points. Veteran guard Alex Caruso, dressed in street clothes, could only clap his hands in hopes of bringing a jolt of energy that simply would not come in a 119-98 loss to the Rockets — an unimaginable, disheartening new normal.
The 2026-27 season kicked off a fortnight ago, but Oklahoma City has already endured a campaign's worth of misfortune. Jalen Williams, lost to a fractured left fibula and a dislocated ankle . Cason Wallace, lost to a torn left labrum . Chet Holmgren, lost to a right patellar tendon tear . A tight-knit group that has always preached the importance of being where their feet are now is struggling to find its footing. A team that stood atop basketball's pinnacle less than 18 months ago now is dealing with questions about ever seriously challenging again, despite still boasting the reigning MVP and a former Coach of the Year. It's a unique type of hoops purgatory the organization hasn't experienced before.
"The morale's been pretty good all things considered," Mark Daigneault said on Saturday. "A week ago, the circumstances were a lot different than they are today. We understand that. We try to have an approach that can transcend these circumstances and the guys have done a great job. Obviously, the challenge is a little different now than it was prior to those injuries, but we have to recalibrate to what the challenge is and attack it a day and a game at a time."
While injuries have always been a part of the game, especially when competing at the highest level of the sport in the world, the widespread volume and degree of ailments is troubling. One team being suddenly down 60% of its projected starting lineup is one thing, albeit a needle-in-a-haystack type probability. But the list of unavailables — Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Ja Morant, Ben Simmons, Jaren Jackson Jr., Paolo Banchero, Jalen Duren, Kawhi Leonard, Jalen Suggs and others — is growing, with various timelines ranging from multiple weeks to multiple months. Stars and teams are also being cautious with back-to-backs, whether due to early load management or having returned from long-term injuries. (The Pacers had 10 players out against the Hawks on Monday night, the second night of a back-to-back, citing a combination of rest and injury management.)
But the games aren't slowing down for anyone. The season has become streamlined to some degree, with the shortening of training camp/preseason (the typical ramp-up period) and the insertion of the NBA Cup. It's clearly taken a toll on the players, which in turn takes a toll on the overall product. And there doesn't seem to be an immediate fix for cramming 82 games into a six-month schedule.
Rockets guard Marcus Smart, who's dealt with serious injuries over his 12-year career, had an honest take on the growing epidemic.
"The level of basketball has become so extreme on the human body and we don't have enough time to recover like we used to," Smart said. "When I first came in the league, training camp and preseason were damn near three weeks, multiple games to get your body ready for an 82-game season. Now, depending on how far you go in the playoffs, you might get two months off? It's tough on the body."
"People don't understand; you're flying, your body's inflamed, you're landing in different time zones, go to sleep late and gotta be up early. Run as hard as you can, jump as high and fast as you can and be as physical as you can. All you're doing is asking yourself for injuries. But we signed up for it, and have to figure out a way to minimize it. Some of our best players are getting hurt and it's very unfortunate. We all want to be out here doing what we love."
There is a long list of sports scientists, doctors, data analysts and professionals who will attempt to dissect such a rapid rise of injuries in a short amount of time. But simply watching every night, the games look more rigorous, more demanding and more taxing.
Possessions are up , with the Chicago Bulls topping out at 110.2 a night, up from 107 courtesy of the 2025-26 Miami Heat. League average pace from the previous campaign is now hovering over the bottom third . The game has also become more aggressive. Last season's Pistons team, thought to be one of the more physically violent units around, committed 22 fouls per game. That same figure would rank 18th today . More teams are comfortable sending bodies to the offensive glass, with the Milwaukee Bucks' 33 chances per night a whopping 10 marks higher than last season's No. 1. On the defensive end, no team averaged double digits in contested rebound rate last season — there are eight such teams now . Average team speed and distance are up, too.
"There's not just one straightforward answer," said Jeff Stotts, injury analyst and owner of InStreetClothes.com . "I think you're seeing younger players get injured with a higher frequency because they're likely to have more miles on their legs before they get to the NBA. … I think the game has outpaced the player. And now you're asking your bigger, stronger athletes to also cover more ground, not only work on accelerators but also their brakes. Asking our big guys to stretch their games all the way out to the 3-point line. All those things increase the chances and likelihood of injuries occurring along the way."
Last season, only three players averaged more than 36 minutes a night — Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant and Luka Dončić. That list has since nearly tripled in size. The aforementioned list of injured stars sans Haliburton also has another thing in common: all of their usage rates were lower than the previous season. What that means is while you may be on the ball less, you're off the ball more — relocating, cutting, changing direction and using your body in other ways that still can accumulate pressure and load.
A good indicator of injury prevention is measuring an athlete's workload against their overall fitness level. Essentially the more they're asked to do physically, the more time they need to recover.
"We're in this constant back and forth between rest and acute-to-chronic load ratio, where we're trying to minimize spikes," Stotts said. "Sudden increases in load on the body in relationship to the overall conditioning of the athlete. The teams that have found success have found ways to quantify the data in a way that helps buy-in. Some teams won't rest players; others will build it in. There's no great cure."
Is such a spike in absences this early into the season enough to warrant an alternative look at scheduling or the larger umbrella of how the sport is played altogether? No magic wand can guarantee a clean bill of health, but the games, pace and aggression are increasing in frequency — and the players, whom the entire business model and ecosystem revolves around, are suffering because of it.
Source: Sports
