The NBA Finals was flipped on its head when the defending Final MVP went down with what turned out to be a torn Achilles tendon. Kevin Durant missed the rest of the finals and is expected to miss all of next season as he recovers from the injury, but his injury put a spotlight on the risk of Achilles tendon injuries among NBA players. Last week, a study was published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine that took a closer look at the risk factors associated with Achilles tears among NBA players. We dive into the study and its findings in today’s blog.
Risk of Achilles Tears in NBA Players
For the study, researchers looked at every documented Achilles tendon tear among professional basketball players between the 1969-70 season and the 2017-2018 season. Information collected included the player’s age, position, body mass index, total games played before and after the injury and Player Efficiency Rating. Researchers also collected data about the injury itself, including the date of injury, laterality, minutes played before injury, operative versus nonoperative treatment, and time to return to play. When available, video footage of the injury was analyzed to look for body positioning and other mechanics at the moment of injury.
After looking at the data, researchers identified 44 ruptures over the 48 seasons analyzed. Other findings included:
- The mean age at the time of injury was 28.3 years old.
- Achilles tendon ruptures were most prevalent during early-season game play (27.3%) followed by preseason (18.2%) and late season (18.2).
- 21% of ruptures led to retirement, and 36.8% of players started fewer than 10 games the reminder of their career following their injury.
- Average time to return was 10.5 months.
- Player Efficiency Rating declined by an average of 2.9 points following injuries.
- All videoed ruptures (12) were noncontact in nature, most commonly occurring just before takeoff as the player began to push off from a stopped position.
“In the NBA, a majority of Achilles tendon ruptures occur early in the season, in veteran players, with almost half not returning to play or starting fewer than 10 games in the remainder of their career,” researchers concluded. “The most common mechanism of injury is taking off from a stopped position just before toe-off in a dorsiflexed foot.”
When we compare these findings to Durant’s Achilles injury, the similarities are eerie. Durant is 30 years old, his injury was noncontact in nature and it occurred late in the season. Now, it’s not all the same, because Durant just signed a maximum contract with the Brooklyn Nets, so he’s clearly going to start more than 10 games the rest of his career, but he’ll be out more than 10.5 months considering it’s already been announced that he’ll miss all of next season. It will be interesting to track his PER upon return to see if he can still be as efficient following the injury, but a small drop off in production should be expected. Here’s hoping his rehab goes as planned.
