The NBA has a growing crisis—and it’s not about ratings, contracts, or even load management. It’s about Achilles injuries, the devastating lower-body rupture that has become increasingly common among professional basketball players. Most fans can now recognize the telltale signs: the sudden stop, the unnatural collapse, the painful grimace—and that dreadful “snap” felt more than heard.
Tyrese Haliburton is the latest star to suffer this fate, joining a growing list of high-profile players whose careers have been interrupted or altered by the injury. The frequency is unsettling, and the familiarity is becoming widespread.
“It’s crazy we all know immediately now,” observes journalist Jay Caspian Kang. “More people can spot an Achilles injury than can tell if a team is playing zone.”
While baseball once faced a similar epidemic with ulnar collateral ligament injuries—leading to the now-routine Tommy John surgery—the NBA has no equivalent fix for the Achilles. Recovery is slow, outcomes are uncertain, and the impact is outsized in a sport where fewer players make up a team and individual talent holds enormous weight.
“Baseball has this with Tommy John but surgery fixes it now. We don’t have the same thing with Achilles injuries and there are less players in the NBA, so it’s more impactful,” Kang added.
The implications extend far beyond the players themselves. Teams have seen playoff runs derailed, title hopes dashed, and franchises forced to reset after a star goes down.
“Ten years ago, I never would have thought player physical health would be a bigger topic in basketball than football,” writes journalist Derek Thompson. “But with almost every recent NBA playoff now marked (and in some cases totally transformed) by lower-body ligament and tendon injuries, it’s kind of happening.”
The league, its teams, and its players face an urgent question: What can be done to prevent or mitigate these injuries? Because if trends continue, the Achilles might just become the most feared word in professional basketball.
