Hoops Habit
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Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history

By Christopher Jeter

Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls. (Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks
Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks. (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Most devastating injury in Atlanta Hawks history: Dominique Wilkins

If you want to argue that the Atlanta Hawks haven’t had a true superstar on their season since the days of Dominique Wilkins, you’d probably have an easy time winning that debate, even though the analytics paint him as a second-tier All-Star — similar to a DeMar DeRozan type.

While he wasn’t known for his sterling defense (-1.1 career defensive box plus/minus), nor was he an innovative playmaker (2.5 career assists per game), Wilkins excelled at putting the ball through the hoop. In 12 seasons with the Hawks, Wilkins averaged 26.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game with a 53.9 true shooting percentage.

Despite having next to no outside game — like most players in the 1980s — Wilkins used his superior speed and leaping ability to punish opponents in the post, while often earning trips to the free throw line. That formula led him to two 30+ points-per-game seasons and a scoring title, while shepherding the Hawks to the playoffs in all but three years during his time in Atlanta.

But when Wilkins tore his Achilles tendon midway through the 1991-92 season, there was reason for concern. In terms of short-term impact, the Wilkins-less Hawks finished 38-44 that year and missed the playoffs. Atlanta fans and management had to also consider the long term ramifications of this serious affliction.

Even today, Achilles injuries are considered extremely difficult ones to come back from, even though DeMarcus Cousins is resetting the narrative in that department. For a player like Wilkins — whose game was so predicated on his athleticism — it would’ve shocked no one if Wilkins became a lesser version of himself following such an injury.

Well, that didn’t happen. Wilkins returned the next season and played every bit like the “Human Highlight Film” that everyone came to know him as, averaging 29.9 points per game with a team-leading 10.5 win shares, leading the Hawks back to the playoffs at age 33.

The team traded him the next season and he eventually decwlined as he aged, but he’ll be remembered as one of the few athletes that successfully recovered from an Achilles tear.