A sports doctor did not want to see the NBA shorten seasons or reduce games despite the league’s early-season injuries piling up.
Dr. Brian Sutterer, a prominent sports doctor with over 900,000 subscribers on YouTube, stated that the NBA should not shorten its 82-game regular season because data does not support the schedule or back-to-backs as the primary cause of increased injuries.
What Sports Doctor Brian Sutterer Thinks Of NBA’s Injury Wave?
Dr. Sutterer pointed out that there is zero empirical data showing that back-to-backs or the 82-game layout drive the league’s modern injury rates. Furthermore, he noted that “load management” and added rest days have completely failed to reduce injuries.
“I actually agree after running all the numbers,” the doctor wrote after reposting a video of Iman Shumper saying that the league should not reduce games. “The only benefit of a shorter season is there are fewer games to get injured in.
“But the data doesn’t support the schedule, back to backs, etc as a factor in increased injuries. There also isn’t any support for the idea that load management and more rest days have done anything to reduce injuries.”
The vast majority of early-season ailments are lower-body muscle strains occurring just a few weeks into the schedule, he said, so the root cause points to preparation rather than late-season exhaustion.
Dr. Sutterer concluded that the league’s structural “injury problem” is actually a conditioning flaw. Modern players are suffering from a distinct lack of proper out-of-season and preseason ramp-up and conditioning.
“The injury problem is primarily lower body muscle strains happening early in the season,” he said. “And that’s something that is most affected by off season and preseason prep and conditioning – not the schedule or style of play. I’m beginning to think the “injury problem” is really a modern athlete problem with a lack of proper out of season and preseason ramp up/conditioning.”
NBA Teams Rocked With Injuries
The NBA season has been rocked by an early wave of high-profile injuries, with nearly 60 to 70 players ruled out on any given night just weeks into the year.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been particularly decimated, losing foundational pillars Jalen Williams (fractured fibula), Cason Wallace (torn labrum), and Chet Holmgren (patellar tendon tear) to multi-month absences.
Other top-tier stars are also sidelined, including Anthony Edwards, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, Paolo Banchero out with a severe ankle sprain, Jaren Jackson Jr. treating an MCL tear, and Tyrese Haliburton dealing with a recurring hamstring strain.
As depleted teams are occasionally forced to play severely short-handed rotations, pressure is mounting on NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to address whether the historic 82-game calendar or underlying offseason training habits require urgent, structural overhauls to preserve the well-being of the league’s marquee talent.
Nevertheless, any overhaul should require data that they may not have.
However, many point to the injuries from the hyper-explosive pace and widened 3-point spacing, which force players into more sudden stops, starts, and vertical leaps than their bodies can safely tolerate without extensive recovery.
For now, the season continues with the hope of not many injuries on the horizon.
Sports Doctor Says NBA Should Not Shorten Seasons Despite Injuries