Kevin Durant, Stan Van Gundy agree NBA injuries are peculiarly up

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prepare you for a tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every afternoon.

One scroll through the NBA’s daily injury report and you’ll see a who’s who of all-star caliber players with a designation of “questionable” or “out.” Yesterday, it was Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant ruled out, with Paul George shedding a questionable tag to return from a five-game absence.

Today, it’s Donovan Mitchell and Tyrese Haliburton missing time, with Bradley Beal questionable but reportedly expected to return after missing five games. The list goes on.

In a lot of ways, the injuries are to be expected in a sport as taxing on the body as basketball, played just about every other day. But it can also be perplexing to people familiar with the access modern players have to the best in sports medicine. That was the point Stan Van Gundy was trying to make when he had this hilarious exchange with KD on Twitter.

Stan spittin…

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 18, 2023

Stan, I agree with you lol

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) January 18, 2023

Per Van Gundy, NBA players of the 1990s practiced harder and more often and had more back-to-backs in the schedule, yet they suffered injuries less frequently and missed fewer games than today’s players. It’s hard to know if players today are actually more injured, but KD agreed with SVG’s sentiment.

It certainly seems to be the case when you consider that at least 75 players played in at least 80 games every full season from 1990-99, and that number was down to 13 players last season. Although that could also be part of the modern strategy to reduce injuries. But if SVG is correct, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed.

As he clarified in his confusion over whether KD was in agreement, Durant’s leg injury was unavoidable — someone fell into him. But in theory, the frequency of soft tissue injuries like Mitchell’s groin and Beal’s hamstring shouldn’t be up from decades ago.

If they are, there’s a flaw either in how teams are training or players are preparing, or both, and it all contributes to a frustrating fan experience when nobody knows who’s going to be available.

— Prince J. Grimes

John Wall has been all the talk on NBA Twitter the last 24 hours since the release of his incredibly candid appearance on the Run Your Race podcast.

He made a few eye-opening comments on the show, including the stories of how his time with the Wizards came to an end and this hilariously unpleasant exchange with Tyler Hansbrough that contributed to his decision as a recruit not to attend North Carolina.

The stuff about his recent time with the Houston Rockets especially got my attention just because of how poorly run that organization seems to be. Wall became just the latest player to go on record about Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr.’s need for veteran leadership after Austin Rivers said similar things not long ago.

“I had to tell them, like, the [expletive] y’all getting away with over there, you go to any other team, you’d be out of the [expletive] league. Like, you wouldn’t play.”

It’s no wonder the Rockets are in the middle of an 11-game losing streak and have the worst record in the NBA.

Shootaround

— Wembenyama Wednesday: Vic might be seeing some future teammates live and in person soon

— This exchange with Markieff Morris had Jeremy Sochan hilariously describing himself as “cheeky”

— It sure sounds like Kyrie Irving and Nic Claxton are taking shots at ex-Net James Harden

— Brook Lopez has his own weird reason for ripping off Gary Trent Jr.’s headband