LeBron James has not returned, and Doncic is injured again! Why did the injury break out just after the new season? Garnett gives the answer

James has not yet recovered and returned, and Doncic is troubled by injuries again! Why is it that as soon as the new NBA season started, injuries problems broke out in various teams?

Old James is not back and Doncic is injured again

After scoring 49 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists against the Timberwolves and leading the team to victory, ESPN reporter Shams revealed that Doncic, the core of the Lakers backcourt, suffered a left finger sprain and a left calf contusion, and is expected to miss a week.

The Lakers officials quickly confirmed the authenticity of the news, and Doncic also missed the team's game against the Trail Blazers.

For the Lakers who are aiming to compete for the championship, this news is undoubtedly a huge blow, especially when James, another core member of the team, has not returned from the new season due to sciatica and is not expected to return until mid-November.

The Lakers were not the only ones to suffer a blow. On the same day, Timberwolves core Edwards exited early in the first quarter against the Pacers due to tightness in his right hamstring.

The situation of another Western Conference team, the Grizzlies, is even more exaggerated. Pippen, Clark, Zach Eadie and new aid Jerome are all confirmed to be absent for a long time.

This resulted in the Grizzlies having to apply for a 10-day injury exception from the league in order to sign Charles Brazil to deal with the staff rotation vacancies that were stretched inside.

This situation is not unique to the fiercely competitive Western Conference. In the game against the Timberwolves, the Pacers were missing seven players, including many core rotation players such as Haliburton, Nembhard, Marcelin and McConnell.

More than 30 players are injured

This is also the epitome of serious injuries in the NBA this season. Before the start of the new season, the US media Basketball Forever counted a total of 31 players suffering from injuries.

Among them are big-name players such as James, Jaylen Williams, Irving, and Fox, as well as stars such as Haliburton and Lillard who are confirmed to be out for the season. Players such as Van Jordan and Tatum have also suffered serious injuries.

With the official start of the new season, the number of injured players is bound to further increase. So why are so many players suffering from injuries when the new season has just started?

Garnett gave two major reasons

Faced with this hot issue, Garnett gave two major reasons in the "Ticket & The Truth" podcast recorded with his old friend Pierce.

The first reason is that NBA games are getting faster and faster. Both the pace of the game and the number of rounds have been greatly improved compared to Garnett's era, which obviously increases the consumption of players.

Of course, the benefits of improving the pace of the game are also very obvious. The enjoyment of the game and the probability of players scoring beautiful statistics in a single game are greatly improved.

Since the start of the season, 12 players have scored 40+ points in a single game, and many players have scored 50+ points. In October last year, only 7 players scored 40+ points, and there are currently 4 game days until the end of October.

The second reason is that today's players no longer pay attention to cardiorespiratory training and physical training. They believe that they can directly meet physical requirements through fast-paced games and practice. This is a choice that puts the cart before the horse.

Garnett pointed out that he saw this problem from a detail in the preseason. The players were gasping for air during free throws and had obvious physical problems. Looking at the poor performance of some players in the first show, they obviously were not prepared in advance during the offseason.

Pierce echoed: "Everyone is vacationing at the beach during the offseason, and there are so many colorful things to do."

Another point that cannot be ignored

In addition to the accelerated pace of the game mentioned by Garnett and the fact that the players themselves do not pay attention to physical training, the increased density of the NBA schedule is also a reason that cannot be ignored.

Compared with Garnett's era, the NBA has added mid-season tournaments, play-offs and other events in the past few seasons in order to solve the fatigue period in the middle of the season, which has increased the density of games in disguise.

Coupled with the increase in the number of domestic players in the NBA, most of the latter have to participate in international events such as the European Championships and Asian Cup during the offseason, and are unable to get better rest, which further increases the risk of injuries.