The NBA Playoffs Haven't Even Started Yet And The Injuries To Key Players Are Already Piling Up

As fun as the NBA regular season may be, the truth is we're all just waiting for the 6 months and 82 games to go by as fast as possible so we can finally arrive at the NBA playoffs. Not only do the games finally matter, but everyone is trying, we're tuned in to see the stars begin their journey up the mountain, and the quality of basketball is about a billion times better. There truly is nothing like playoff basketball, and we're seeing that right now with how awesome the Play In games have been so far.

Once we get to this time of year, it doesn't really matter who your favorite team is or what seed they might have, the one thing I think every basketball fan can agree with is that above all else, we just want everyone to stay healthy. Sadly, that's never really what happens. Playoff runs every single year are impacted in some ways by key injuries, which is why to win a title in the first place you need a little bit of luck, especially on the health side. 

For this year's run, we aren't even technically at the playoffs yet and the injuries are starting to pile up

We haven't seen Kawhi yet, but it's never great to be getting reports of knee swelling before he even steps onto the court. Not only are these pretty significant injuries in the short term for half of this list given their teams Play In situation, these are all injuries that are projected to have pretty lengthy recovery times.

Things started with Giannis' non-contact calf strain, which we learned will keep him out until probably Games 3 or 4 of the Bucks' first round series

It goes without saying what a big time blow that is for a Bucks team going up against a highly motivated Pacers team that has had their number so far this season. I know there are some out there that have tried to downplay what a historic individual season Giannis has had, but let's remember he is the first player ever in the history of the NBA to average over 30 a game with a 60% TS%. It was arguably the best year of his career, regardless of what voter fatigue is going to do to his MVP votes. 

With the fear that this injury could lead to something even more devastating, you obviously have to be super careful about his return and you can't rush him back, regardless of how this series goes. If we're talking about impactful injuries that could ultimately determine how the playoffs go, it starts with Giannis.

Up next, came Zion

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For this injury to happen while the guy is having the game of his life and a pretty eye opening "Zion has arrived" moment is just some shit luck. It seems like every time Zion starts to put something together, his body fails him. We waited his entire career for a moment like this, Zion actually delivered, and now he's cooked with a hamstring injury.

Just like with Giannis' calf strain, you cannot rush back from hamstring injuries. Those things linger, and a player as explosive as Zion is just asking for trouble if you bring him back too quickly. When the early reports suggest that he won't even be re-evaluated for another two weeks, that pretty much tells you the Pelicans are most likely preparing for a life without Zion for as long as they are able to stay alive. It would have been awesome to see him potentially go up against the Thunder, but that dream appears to be dead.

If we're talking impactful injuries, outside of Giannis I'm not sure there is a more impactful one than what we saw with Jimmy Butler last night. As we know, Playoff Jimmy is capable of carrying his team to the Finals all by himself. He is the heartbeat of the Heat this time of year, and in an instant, everything changed

To be honest, I'm not even sure how Butler managed to play the final 3 quarters, and based on what we saw when he left the arena you knew it wasn't going to be great news

All you could do was hope the MRI was clean, and as of this morning the results pretty much confirmed what most had feared

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Another multiple week injury, which some might argue is the final nail in the coffin for the Heat's playoff dreams. It's hard enough to win this time of year, having to do it without your best player and guy who has made it a habit of putting the team on his back is brutal. If you watched MIA/PHI you saw the signs of what makes the Heat so tough to beat this time of year, from the zone defense to the turnovers to Butler's two way impact to their timely shooting, they certainly had the look of a team that was following the same script we've seen year after year. 

Now having to navigate without Jimmy Butler for the foreseeable future sucks for all basketball fans who basically waited all year to see a version of Jimmy Butler that was actually trying. We all know and accept he coasts during the year, so for him to have a serious injury before the playoffs even start is a huge bummer.

Sadly, we're not done. In our other Play In game we saw another key rotation player go down, this time it was Alex Caruso

Now you may be saying to yourself "Alex Caruso? Who cares about Alex Caruso?" 

I'll tell you who. Bulls fans and any basketball fan that enjoys elite two way basketball. The Bulls are already dealing with key guys being out, and as it stands now Caruso isn't just their best defender (All NBA caliber), he's the exact type of player that can swing a playoff game/playoff series. His defense is no joke, his outside shooting is improving, and when you think of the team that the Bulls would have to play against, having an ELITE point of attack defender is a big deal. To now not have that is a huge blow to how the Bulls can defend, and the fact that it came via friendly fire is what makes it even tougher to stomach

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Then of course, there's this Joel Embiid situation. Now, while the Sixers were winning 8 in a row and Embiid was putting up huge numbers, we heard that this was the healthiest he's ever been, he was rested, and nobody in the East wants to see this version of a healthy Joel Embiid.

Well, did what we saw last night look like a guy that's healthy? How much of his 6-17 in 38 minutes was injury and how much of it was your standard Playoff Embiid? Given the fact that the Sixers are about to go up against a highly motivated and very physical Knicks team, I'd say the health of Embiid is pretty important. If he's not 100%, it absolutely changes the dynamic of that series and ultimately what the Sixers ceiling is. If he is healthy, there's no reason why the Sixers shouldn't make the ECF given their bracket. That's a pretty big swing that's all dependant on the health of a player who seems to be healthy when he dominates, but is injured when he struggles. 

I think we were all expecting to see the version of Embiid we saw pre-injury and to end the year, and that is certainly not what we got last night.

At the end of the day, it all just sucks. That's all you can really say. We wait all year for this moment and then before we even get started, some of the biggest names in the playoff field are getting hurt or are reportedly still dealing with something. The scary part is you know this is just the beginning too. Just wait until the rest of the playoff field gets going, my guess is there will be more names to add to this list.