“If I can walk, I’ll play.” That was Tyrese Haliburton’s warrior code in the Finals. Sadly, it wasn’t enough. His Achilles injury shattered not just his postseason but also the Pacers’ hopes. The setback could sideline him through the early months of the 2025-26 season. It’s a brutal blow for a team on the rise. Now, the most chilling part is, between 1990 and 2023, 45 NBA players suffered Achilles injuries. But in the past season alone, eight players fell to this career-altering fate, with Haliburton and Jayson Tatum among them.

So, what’s triggering this sudden spike? Former NBA champion Paul Pierce believes he has the answer. And it makes a disturbing kind of sense.

Last season was ruthless. Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard, Indiana’s Isaiah Jackson, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton all fell victim to brutal Achilles injuries. Each of them went down during pivotal playoff moments. Tatum collapsed in the Conference Finals, while Haliburton’s season ended in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

These weren’t just injuries; they were franchise-altering moments. Overnight, championship hopes unraveled, and front office strategies shifted. Sure, injuries are part of the league’s price tag. But Achilles tears at this volume? And all within a year? That’s a red flag. And Paul Pierce believes he knows why. 

In a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, Paul Pierce shed light on the troubling Achilles epidemic. According to Pierce, the issue isn’t the game’s pace or intensity. It’s what happens or doesn’t happen before tip-off.

Pierce recalled a private conversation with Kevin Garnett, saying, “Me and KG was just talking about this man…KG made an interesting point, he was like they don’t practice no more.” Paul broke it down further, noting how players today often skip consistent practice to preserve their bodies. He said, “I say like cause he (KG) was like they don’t practice no more because you have to be at a certain level being shape. Think about it, you don’t practice for 2 days and you just go straight into a game going 110, and then your body cold.” 

Sure, this take coming from Paul might sound like an old-school take. But the reality is that conditioning gaps and erratic prep routines are quietly wrecking players like Tatum. The damage isn’t always visible until it is. Just like in the case of Jayson Tatum’s injury. But here’s where it gets interesting. Pierce didn’t stop at practice habits. He hinted at an unspoken shift in today’s NBA culture, something subtle yet significant. According to him, a certain unwritten rule is making the league feel a little too sanitized, a little too monotonous. What’s this silent change tightening its grip on the game? Let’s break it down.

After revealing Jayson Tatum’s injury issue, Paul Pierce exposes another hard truth about today’s NBA

Pierce spent 19 seasons in the league. Drafted in 1998, he survived and eventually thrived in an era ruled by Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant. He didn’t just witness their greatness, he competed against it. He molded his own game to keep pace and carved out a Hall of Fame career. That firsthand experience makes his perspective on the league’s evolution both valuable and sobering.

On Podcast P with Paul George, Pierce called out a cultural shift he believes is quietly draining the soul out of basketball. He said, “You know, another thing too, that the players don’t play as much as the players from my era, talking about pickup. Like, that was my whole summer, like I played pickup every day… It’s different because everybody is doing a lot of more individuals. I can’t even remember doing individual work like because everything I did was five on five.”What Pierce highlights is a league drifting from team-centered culture toward solo skill-building. In his eyes, that’s stunting the creativity that once made the game electric.

As the Boston Celtics’ legend said, “And so now it looked like the same game. Like right now, everybody doing like kind of the same move. Like the creativity of the game ain’t what it used to be.” Maybe he’s right. The league’s overemphasis on individual workouts might explain why we rarely witness those jaw-dropping, selfless passes from the Kobe-Shaq era.

Yet, to be fair, stars like Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton have started redefining playmaking in their own way. And it’s worth watching where they take it next.