NBA: 10 Biggest Disappointments So Far In 2016-17
10. Injuries
This is one of the worst aspects of professional sports, and the start of the 2016-17 NBA season has been no different: Injuries to entertaining players keeping them off the floor and preventing their teams from reaching their fullest potential is always a downer.
Rookie of the Year favorite Ben Simmons has yet to play a single NBA game due to a fractured bone in his foot, which will sideline him for 3-4 months and ensure the Philadelphia 76ers enter their third straight season with their top rookie being injured.
Khris Middleton may miss the entire year because of a hamstring injury, limiting the Milwaukee Bucks‘ ceiling before the season even started and prompting the front office to swing some early trades whose text equivalent would be a 2 a.m., “U up?”
Good win here for the Bucks as they move to 5-4. Anything above .500 is great for this team without Khris Middleton.
— Behind the Buck Pass (@BehindTheBucks) November 13, 2016
Jeremy Lin has only missed six games and was originally diagnosed with a two-week timetable before being reevaluated, but Linsanity being put on pause by a hamstring injury is obviously disappointing, especially since the Brooklyn Nets have been surprisingly competitive without him.
The Denver Nuggets‘ youngsters are taking their licks, but you never like to see them come in the form of something like Gary Harris‘ foot injury that will sideline him for 4-6 weeks.
Al Horford (concussion) and Jae Crowder (ankle) have been sidelined for a combined 15 games for the Boston Celtics already. The Utah Jazz have had to deal with nagging injuries to Gordon Hayward, Boris Diaw, George Hill, Alec Burks and Derrick Favors so far this year.
Hill and Favors out tonight brings Jazz starters' missed game count to 17 through what will be 13 games played.
— Ben Dowsett (@Ben_Dowsett) November 17, 2016
Nerlens Noel has yet to play for the Sixers. Same with Patrick Beverley in Houston, Reggie Jackson in Detroit and new arrival Ian Mahinmi in Washington.
Dirk Nowitzki (Achilles) has been sidelined for all but three games during the Dallas Mavericks‘ 2-8 start, Tony Allen is out with a groin injury, Michael Carter-Williams will miss 4-6 weeks with a knee issue, Al-Farouq Aminu‘s calf strain won’t be reevaluated for a few weeks and promising youngster Cameron Payne still has no timetable for a return from a Jones fracture in his foot.
The usual suspects like Chandler Parsons, Bradley Beal, Festus Ezeli, DeMarre Carroll, Ricky Rubio and Tiago Splitter make the injury bug even more depressing, and we can’t forget to mention Chris Bosh, whose career may already be over.
Injuries are to be expected every year in the NBA, but that doesn’t mean we’re ever going to be okay with them.