LeBron recently took to Twitter to voice his opinions on the Shortened offseason between the NBA bubble and this current season. He blamed the injuries sustained by stars this season on the short turnaround, something that he had worried about when it was first announced.
The NBA ended up having about an 8-week break between the 2020 Finals and the beginning of this current season. This is extremely short compared to the average offseason, and many concerns were lobbied as a result. LeBron was one of those who expressed distaste for the decision. In the end, the league and NBPA agreed on a December start date despite concerns.
Many agreed that it seemed like there were more injuries than usual this year. The NBA released injury data about two-thirds of the way through the year that showed the opposite though. This came as quite a shock to many that felt there were more injuries than usual this year.
After the season, ESPN reported that there were, in fact, more injuries this year. According to ESPN, soft tissue injuries were quite high this year, which was something many training staff were worried about. This data backs up LeBron’s concerns from before the season and his recent tweets.
Something else LeBron mentions is the amount of All-Stars who have missed time in these playoffs. 8 All-Stars have missed time in the playoffs this year, which is the most ever. With the recent news of Chris Paul entering the COVID protocols, that number will be 9.
Even LeBron was affected by injuries this year. Both him and Anthony Davis missed significant time this year. They lost their first-round series against the Suns, most likely because neither player was themselves in the playoffs.
Steve Nash made a similar point to LeBron when discussing his players James Harden and Kyrie Irving missing time. He cited the compressed schedule this year as one of the culprits of these injuries. The increase in injuries is more than likely due to the combination of the short offseason and the compressed schedule.
The current situation is definitely unfortunate, but it’s unclear what other choices they had after the bubble ended in October. Now with this season ending later than usual, they have a similar decision to make. They currently plan to start the 2021-22 season in October, giving a 9-week break between the Finals and Opening night, only one week longer than last year.
