Kevin Durant. Ha Morant. Zion Williamson. Chet Holmgren. Tyrese Maxey. Paolo Banchero. Kristaps Porzingis. Aaron Gordon. Kawhi Leonardo. Chris Middleton. Isaiah Hartenstien. Dejounte Murray.

That list is just the tip of the iceberg. Some of the NBA’s biggest stars have already missed time this season due to injuries, and that doesn’t even include someone like Joel Embiid, who hasn’t played yet this season but is expected to return Tuesday.

What is happening? It felt like a series of injuries had overwhelmed the start of the NBA season. Are things really that bad?

No. And yes.

Jeff Stotts from In Street Clothes – which maintains a database that has tracked NBA injuries for more than a decade – wrote this week that there are no more injuries so far this season compared to a year ago, but players are missing more time.

While injury rates remain on par with past seasons, the total number of games missed due to these injuries is proving more costly. Through almost three weeks, the total number of games lost due to injury or illness is surpassing previous seasons by 100 games. The numbers are likely to increase after the top two picks of the 2019 NBA Draft, New Orleans’ Zion Williamson and Memphis’ Ja Morant, were ruled out indefinitely with hamstring and hip injuries, respectively.

He also wrote that before Chet Holmgren’s hip fracture was announced, that number would only increase.

Why all these more serious injuries?

That has been a topic of speculation in the NBA. One theme that comes up is that teams have shorter training camps/preseasons and don’t play much or take them very seriously. The theory holds that coaches and players are more concerned about arriving healthy at the start of the season and rested by putting in a lot of effort in a short preseason. The result is more injuries when players come into the regular season and suddenly start going 100 miles per hour.

In the bigger picture, there is the wear and tear that players put on their bodies before they make it to the league. has been documented that early sports specialization has been hard on the bodies of many young athletes in multiple sports. Players typically specialize in one sport before they even reach high school, and in a sport like basketball, the season lasts almost year-round with AAU, high school teams, and private coaches. The result is that players use the same muscle groups (and wear out the same tendons and ligaments) with repetitive movements from a younger age. That makes the players’ bodies more worn out when they get to the league.

Like almost everything in life, there probably isn’t a single answer: it’s a combination of factors. But for a league trying to increase the value of the regular season, and get teams to take it seriously and not overmanage players to keep them healthy for the playoffs, it will be a problem. All the player engagement policies in the world won’t solve the root problems.