The 24-25 season, particularly during the playoffs, was sadly marked by Achilles tendon injuries across several players. Up to seven men suffered ruptures in the area, with notable cases including Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton, in what seemed like a plague underscoring that excessive minutes were putting players’ health at risk. A premise that the NBA itself, citing its own study, denied was true.
Nevertheless, a new investigation, this time independent of the league, has indeed found a correlation between greater exertion and these ailments. Conducted by The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, it notes significant increases in workload in a window of 10 to 15 games prior to the injury, and points to the need to manage minutes and to apply active prevention strategies to promote players’ health and longevity.
A conclusion that, however, does not alter the NBA’s stance on the matter. John DiFioiri, the league’s director of sports medicine, has released a statement to The Athletic giving his view on the matter, in which he questions the methodology of this report and thus the validity of its conclusions.
Different Conclusions
«During the last year, we have worked to better understand Achilles injuries with a tendon health working group and additional research. Any new learning is welcome, but we believe that the recent study on this matter is based on a very limited methodology».
«Our research has been intensive, and has been carried out by independent epidemiologists who have studied data from the 2012-13 season through the present and have not found a relationship between these injuries and the minutes played before they occurred. We remain committed to seeking information that promotes players’ health and performance and helps prevent injuries».
The NBA has not made public the results of its study, although Adam Silver has referred to it on several occasions. Last summer, the commissioner noted that, according to their checks, most of these injuries had occurred before the All-Star break, which, in his view, casts doubt on the thesis that points to the number of games as a factor.
In fact, although the most famous cases occurred in the playoffs, four of the seven Achilles injuries that took place during the 24-25 season occurred between October and December, and in several cases also affected players without a heavy minutes load such as James Wiseman, Dru Smith, or Isaiah Jackson. During the 2025-26 season, however, only Donte DiVincenzo was affected by this type of issue, which did occur in the postseason.
