The NBA has been hit with a wave of injuries to star players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo’s groin strain and Victor Wembanyama’s calf strain, prompting widespread concern about the physical toll of the modern game. Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr has repeatedly highlighted the brutal pace and schedule as key factors. Now, the league is taking action with a new league-wide biomechanics program aimed at understanding and reducing these injuries, a move that aligns with Kerr’s recent complaints.

Steve Kerr expressed deep worry about the situation, stating, “I’m very concerned. It’s dramatic. The pace difference is dramatic.” He even explained how the current style of play contributes to the problem: “Across the league, everyone understands that it’s easier to score if you can beat the opponent down the floor, get out in transition. But when everybody’s doing that, the games are much higher-paced, faster-paced. Everyone has to cover out to 25 feet because everybody can shoot threes.”

And the concern raised by the 60-year-old is genuine. The league-wide 3-point rate has increased in each of the last 10 seasons, rising from 22.2% in 2010-11 to 39.2% last season. Interestingly, the rise noted is more in the last five years than it was in the previous five. In the 2015-16 season, six teams took at least 1/3 of their shots from 3-point range. However, last season, 28 of the 30 teams did so, with the only teams under the 33.3% mark being the Washington Wizards (31.9%) and San Antonio Spurs (31.4%).

Further, the Warriors coach directly linked the increased physical demands to the injury spike, sharing insights from his team’s medical staff: “The wear and tear, the speed, the pace, the mileage is factoring into these injuries.” He emphasized the lack of recovery time in the packed schedule, revealing, “We literally have not had a single practice on this road trip. Not one. We’ve been gone a week or longer. Eight days, not one practice. It’s just game, game, game. So not only is there no recovery time, there’s no practice time.”

Once the NBA schedule was out in August, we saw how the Charlotte Hornets, Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns, and Washington Wizards were placed to face the most back-to-back games with 16. The fan rage was almost instant because of the injuries that took place last season. As per Sportico, last year, the total number of games missed due to injury/illness showed an increasing trend by the week.

Amid these concerns, the NBA has announced a major initiative to address player health. Reporter Shams Charania shared details from the league, explaining, “I am told, though, that the league is launching a league-wide biomechanics assessment program. So more than 500 players have already gone through a level of testing. There’s four round of biomechanics testing also needed to be done rest of the season. And that’s gonna be used to optimize exactly how the performance is and try to reduce injuries moving forward.”

This program involves installing identical motion capture labs at all 30 team facilities, with four teams already participating as pilots. The system uses technology from Qualisys, Theia Markerless, Bertec, and BreakAway Data to collect standardized data on player movements. The goal is to identify biomechanical factors that contribute to injuries, with players undergoing up to four assessments per season as part of the collective bargaining agreement.

Does the NBA have an injury problem?

The current injury trend is supported by hard data on how the game is played. Shams Charania noted, “This is the league’s highest pace of play since I think 88, 89. So obviously fast moving game.” The league-wide average pace has reached 100.5 possessions per game, the highest since the late 1980s. Player tracking shows teams now cover 34.3 miles per game at an average speed of 4.43 miles per hour, both record highs since such data began being collected in 2013.

The schedule itself creates additional strain. Golden State’s early-season journey illustrates this challenge, with 17 games in 29 days across 12 different cities. Kerr has long advocated for reducing the 82-game schedule, arguing it would allow for proper recovery and practice time. However, he acknowledges the financial hurdles, stating, “The tricky part is all the constituents would have to agree to take less revenue. In 2025 in America, good luck in any industry.”

Despite the league noting that star player injuries are actually lower than the previous two seasons through 12 games, the visibility of absences remains high, as Charania pointed out, “Nine of the top 30 usage rate players are all sidelined right now. So that’s 30% of those top 30 usage players. So six of them with soft tissue injuries.” This concentration of injuries among key performers has heightened concerns about the sport’s physical sustainability.