This year’s NBA season was a hard watch for many fans all around the world. With many of us wanting to see the limitless shooting of Curry, the dominant physicality of Anthony Davis, and even the effortless skills of Kyrie and KD, we were unable to due to never-ending injuries.
Consistency in the NBA has been a long-standing issue for players and fans as teams are often faced with continuous recurring setbacks of injuries and player fatigue. With the 2024/2025 season having come to an end, it is clear to see how this year the NBA was plagued with injuries of star players causing many of us fans to be left disappointed and dissatisfied.
Every year, whether it is the fan base or those involved within the NBA, there seems to be a discussion on whether shorter seasons would benefit the league or not but there is never any action taken. The league format still stays mostly the same meaning players are still expected to play 82 games a season without any consequence.
Well, this year it is safe to say there was an abundance of those consequences. I mean look at Embiid for example. A player who has tons of accolades like being the MVP of the 2023 season, seven NBA All-Star selections, All-NBA First Team in 2023, and three-time NBA All-Defensive Team selections missed almost the entire season this year due to knee issues. One of the best defensive players and the soul of Philly missed an entire season due to knee issues.
To make matters worse, we saw the entire Dallas franchise attacked with injuries after their shock trade of Luka to the Lakers. With new signings Kyrie and AD it is safe to say they were still top contenders from the playoffs but again, Kyrie tore his ACL whilst AD went out injured on his Mavericks debut, essentially removing any chance of Dallas being a real contender for the playoffs.
Bear in mind, this is just the regular season, the playoffs saw countless injuries like; Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell with ankle issues, Damian Lillard’s torn Achilles, the 2024 champion Jayson Tatum, Golden State’s Curry, and the list goes on.
This constant pile up of injuries during the regular season and the playoffs needs to be a wake-up call for the league because not only are star players unable to maintain their bodies for an intensive 82 game season, but us fans are missing out on being able to watch high level basketball. I mean it shows as less stadiums are sold out and data from this season just gone suggests that the NBA is facing a year over year decline of 2% in the average viewership of the regular season across national networks.
I really do believe shorter seasons could really impact the league for the better. For example, with less games in a season, each game becomes more competitive, and the stakes are raised for every single game. It would cause a domino effect as less games means less physical strain on all players which would significantly reduce the chance of recurring injuries that see players sit out for prolonged periods of time.
To take it further, with less games there is less incentive to let star players sit out for multiple games in a row and combine that with less fatigue on players, fans would be able to attend more games and actually get to see the faces of their franchise play. I mean what franchise wouldn’t want to have the best available options for every game throughout the Emirates NBA Cup, the regular season, and of course the playoffs.
Not only this, but with games becoming worth more we could potentially see a reduction in the amount of tanking we often see teams ‘subtly’ do. I feel as if this isn’t just a take from a fan but also from players too as in a podcast recently where Paul George was talking about Haliburton’s torn Achilles in Game 7 of the finals this year he says, “It’s a lot… he’s playing from the Olympics, the long season, long playoff run… a lot more possessions, a lot more up and downs.”
Haliburton’s injury in Game 7 was absolutely devastating not only for Pacers fans but for fans of the sport all over the world. I truly believe it could’ve been prevented if the league finally addressed the conversation on shorter seasons and allowed players to play a full season with significantly less strain on their bodies.
Maybe one day we will get to see a much more competitive and intense season where we can actually see the star players ball out but for now, we can only continue to hope.
