The Pelicans Debriefing: Season-ending injuries on the rise
By Joshua Lea
The Pelicans are still picking up the pieces following the injury to one of its star players. Now, more players are succumbing to season-ending injuries.
On Friday, January 25th, Pelicans star DeMarcus Cousins tore his Achilles tendon. This is a season-ending injury that could reshape the entire structure of the Pelicans franchise. The Pelicans were in a prime position to make the playoffs.
Although the playoffs are not completely out of reach, the Pelicans are adjusting to life without Cousins. This could mean more minutes for Anthony Davis which should worry any Pelican fan.
Last night, Knicks budding superstar Kristaps Porzingis tore his ACL in his left knee. He will miss the rest of the season. Now, the Knicks were not going to make the playoffs. They’re 11th in the Eastern Conference with just 23 wins this season.
Losing Porzingis is a huge blow to the Knicks. Andre Roberson for the Oklahoma City Thunder is out for the season after tearing his left patellar tendon. Jeremy Lin of the Brooklyn Nets suffered the same injury during their season opener.
Seth Curry of the Dallas Mavericks hasn’t played a game this season. He was hopeful to return to the Mavericks bench this season. Yesterday, Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Curry will season-ending surgery on his left tibia.
Other players that are out for the season include Patrick Beverly of the Clippers, Mike Conley of the Grizzlies and Dion Waiters of the Heat.
The NBA season opener was on October 19th, almost two weeks earlier than normal. However, the NBA All-Star Game was not moved to an earlier start date. The most likely reason is that the NBA didn’t want to compete with the Super Bowl.
The Pelicans will be playing in their 58th game before the All-Star break. That’s over 1/3 of the season. This is completely unacceptable. There isn’t any justification for risking players to injury by playing this many games before the All-Star break.
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The overall purpose of the NBA season beginning early is to eliminate so many back-to-backs. Interesting, the Pelicans play a back-to-back this week and they also did so last week.
This isn’t just about the Pelicans. This is about all teams in the NBA. The league must find a suitable way to play out the season while giving the players much-needed days off and breaks before the playoffs begin.
I would suggest maybe starting the season later than normal. If the NBA season began on Christmas Day, football would be just about over. Baseball doesn’t get serious until mid-July. So, you could extend the regular season until mid-May and have the NBA finals begin the first week of July. Then, you only have to worry about competing with the NCAA Tournament during the month of March. Is it a perfect plan? No, but it’s a start to a conversation that needs to be had.
Next: Talking contracts and salaries
At the end of the day, NBA commissioner Adam Silver needs to address the injury issues with players in this league. There shouldn’t be so many injuries to NBA players during the regular season. I get that it’s a part of the game. But, it is also preventable.