Stephon-Castle-and-Victor-Wembanyama-on-the-bench
Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
We are about one month into the NBA season, and nearly 50 percent of the league’s stars are currently sidelined with injuries. Why are so many players injured? And what’s being done to fix the problem?
This isn’t a fluke trend either. NBA players missed 10 percent more games last season than in any season since 2005. And that’s only because certified athletic trainer Jeff Stotts, who maintains a database of NBA injuries, didn’t begin tracking them until then.
Sportico reports that the NBA defines a “star” as a player who has made an All-Star or All-NBA team during the past three seasons. There are currently 45 of those players in the league. 21 of them, or 46.7 percent, are injured.
The list of NBA stars currently sitting on the bench and not playing includes players like Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Victor Wembanyama, Ja Morant, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, Steph Curry, Joel Embiid, Kawhi Leonard, Jrue Holiday, and Jimmy Butler.
14 players have appeared on an official injury report for a calf-related issue. There have also been 22 hamstring injuries during the first month of the NBA season.
Why are so many NBA stars injured, and how can the league fix the problem?
Earlier this week, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told the media that his team’s medical staff “believes that the wear and tear, the speed, the pace, the mileage is factoring into these injuries.”
“Across the league, everyone understands that it’s easier to score if you beat the opponent down the floor, get out in transition,” ESPN reports Kerr said. “But when everybody’s doing that, the games are much higher paced. Everyone has to cover out to 25 feet because everybody can shoot 3s. We have all the data. Players are running faster and further [than] before. We’re trying to do the best we can, but we basically have a game every other night. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
There are 21 players making $30-plus million sidelined due to injury. pic.twitter.com/kHHkm3QETv
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 17, 2025
In an effort to figure out the root cause of all of these injuries, particularly the soft tissue type, the NBA has launched a comprehensive biomechanics assessment program. NBA insider Shams Charania reported that, so far, more than 500 players have already gone through a level of testing.
“There are four rounds of biomechanics testing that still need to be completed for the rest of the season, and that’s going to be used to optimize performance and try to reduce injuries moving forward,” he explained.