The NBA has tried to do everything possible to ensure that its biggest stars are playing on its biggest platforms.
But nothing is working.
For multiple years, load management has been the scorn of NBA commissioner Adam Silver and network executives that have seen All-Star players willfully sit out games to rest and save their bodies for the playoffs. In response, the league instituted rules regarding players sitting out nationally televised games to ensure the best product possible for fans. The league took it a step further with the 65-game minimum needed for awards and All-NBA honors beginning in the 2023-2024 season.
However, the extreme pace of play and stress on players’ bodies is taking a more severe toll than ever as injuries have decimated top players around the league.
The NBA’s injury crisis is very real and the data is alarming, especially when it comes to high-priced, highly-watched national television broadcasts.
Yahoo’s Tom Haberstroh researched how many star players have missed national TV games this season due to injury and the results are stunning.
Using the NBA’s own criteria for star players as those with an All-NBA or All-Star appearance in one of the last three seasons or current campaign, Yahoo found that just 32.7% of nationally televised games featured a full compliment of star players. In the other two-thirds of games, at least one star player was absent.
ABC’s nationally televised games have been the most fortunate media partner with healthy stars competing, but it’s still below the 50% marker at just 10 out of 23 games this season featuring a full complement of top performers. On the other side, Peacock has had just one of its nine exclusive games meet that criteria.
These stats come at an incredibly relevant time as both Cade Cunningham and Anthony Edwards have fallen below the threshold to receive All-NBA honors this season and Luka Dončić suffered what could be a serious hamstring injury in an Amazon Prime Video game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Of the NBA’s top 25 scorers this season, only one – Julius Randle of the Minnesota Timberwolves – has played in every game. Only four others have even crossed the 70 game plateau – Kevin Durant, Jamal Murray, Jalen Brunson, and Brandon Ingram.
About Matt Yoder