A new medical study has found a correlation between increased minutes played in the games preceding an Achilles tear and the likelihood of that injury, though the NBA disputes the connection based on its own internal research. The study, published last month in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine by researchers affiliated with the University of California San Francisco, examined 19 Achilles tears over an 11-season period.

The research was prompted by a dramatic spike in Achilles injuries two years ago, when seven NBA players tore their Achilles tendons, including Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton, all during the playoffs. Only one player, Donte DiVincenzo, suffered the same injury last season.

Researchers examined whether factors such as player age, position, role, schedule density or early basketball specialization contributed to Achilles injuries, but found no meaningful association with those variables. They did, however, identify a pattern related to workload spikes shortly before injury.

"Significant workload spikes were found in the 10 to 15 games preceding Achilles ruptures for NBA players," the study concluded. "Veteran players carried heavier cumulative workloads, whereas younger players ruptured tendons under lighter use."

The NBA pushed back on that conclusion in a statement to The Athletic from Dr. John DiFiori, the league's director of sports medicine.

"Over the past year, we have worked to better understand Achilles tendon injuries through a tendon health working group and additional research," said DiFiori. "While we welcome continued learnings, we believe the recent paper on this topic has important methodological limitations. Our own extensive review of league data to date, conducted with independent epidemiologists and consultants, spanned the 2012-13 season to the present and found no relationship between Achilles tendon injuries and minutes played before injury. We remain committed to advancing research that informs player health, performance, and injury prevention."

The league launched its own research initiative into Achilles injuries last season following the unusual cluster of cases, having never previously seen more than four such injuries in a single season before 2024-25.

Adam Silver addressed the league's findings last summer, noting that most Achilles injuries over the past decade occurred before the All-Star break.

"When we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break," said Silver. "So, it's not clear it's the number of games. And as you know, modern NBA players, even when they're not playing games sometimes in the summer they're working harder than they are during the season when they're playing three games a week."

Silver also expressed hope that emerging technology could help identify patterns behind the injuries.

"I'm hopeful that by looking at more data, by looking at patterns, this is one area where A.I., people are talking about how that's going to transform so many areas, the ability with A.I. to ingest all video of every game a player's played in to see if you can detect some pattern that we didn't realize that leads to an Achilles injury," said Silver. "We're taking it very seriously."

The NBA has not yet released formal results from its internal investigation into the issue.