The NBA is pushing back on a new Achilles injury study.
The study, published in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine by researchers affiliated with UC San Francisco, found a correlation between Achilles tears and higher minutes played in the 10-game and 15-game samples before the injury. The comparison was made against each player's season average.
The league disagrees with the framing. According to The Athletic's report shared on Reddit, the NBA said its own internal research found no relationship between increased playing time and Achilles injuries.
That makes the debate bigger than one paper. Two years ago, the league had a dramatic spike in Achilles tears, including postseason injuries to Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton. Last season, Donte DiVincenzo was the only player listed in the Reddit summary as suffering the injury.
The study does not prove that a heavier stretch automatically causes a rupture. The sample is small, and Achilles injuries are complicated. But the claim it raises is easy to understand: a short-term workload jump, above what a player has been averaging, may matter more than total season minutes.
That is why the NBA's response will get attention. Any link between workload and major injuries would feed into arguments about rest, back-to-backs, star usage and playoff minutes. The league has reason to resist a simple overuse narrative. Researchers are trying to isolate a pattern in a rare injury.
For teams, the practical question remains open. If a player is suddenly pushed above his normal workload, that spike now has another piece of research attached to it, even if the league is not accepting the conclusion.
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