Overview
- League sources say more than 500 players have already undergone initial biomechanics assessments, with four testing rounds scheduled this season and identical motion‑capture labs being deployed to all 30 facilities using systems from Qualisys, Theia Markerless, Bertec and BreakAway Data.
- Data compiled by Yahoo Sports shows stars have missed 200-plus games through the first month and are appearing in roughly 68% of games, with Shams Charania noting a concentration of soft‑tissue issues among high‑usage players.
- Coaches and medical staffs, including Steve Kerr’s group, link the spike in absences to faster pace, greater spacing and compounding schedule strain, as league tracking shows the highest pace since the late 1980s and record distances and speeds covered per game.
- Golden State’s early slate illustrates the squeeze with 17 games in 29 days and five back‑to‑backs, and the Warriors held out Stephen Curry against Miami due to ankle soreness as Kerr cited limited recovery and practice time.
- Commentators are floating structural fixes such as cutting games or imposing per‑player minutes caps, but reporting underscores significant revenue and logistics barriers, leaving teams to manage minutes and rotations on a nightly basis.