You might think that the NBA season is already deep into the season, seeing a large number of players missing the early part of the season due to injuries.
Honestly, this could be an epidemic.
Here's the list of players (note* some rookies or lesser known players aren't even listed here, so it could be longer, if you can believe that):
🔸Jayson Tatum
🔸Damian Lillard
🔸LeBron James
🔸Jalen Williams
🔸Kyrie Irving
🔸Tyrese Haliburton
🔸Fred VanVleet
🔸Domantas Sabonis
🔸De'Aaron Fox
🔸Tyler Herro
🔸Jalen Green
🔸Darius Garland
🔸Dejounte Murray
🔸Coby White
🔸Jaden Ivey
🔸Jared McCain
🔸Keegan Murray
🔸Scot Henderson
🔸Jeremy Sochan
🔸Zach Eadie
🔸Moses Moody
🔸Max Strus
🔸De'Anthony Melton
🔸Dorian Finney Smith
🔸TJ McConnell
🔸Ty Jerome
🔸Scottie Pippen Jr.
🔸Kevin Rooney
🔸Nicola theme
🔸Haywood Highsmith
🔸Georges Niang
🔸Bilal Coulibaly
One of the biggest omissions is LeBron James. The crowd he drew for this match was huge. Not having him there on opening night felt draining. The nearly 41-year-old has appeared in all 22 Opening Night games his team has played.
This certainly takes the sting out of the opening night Lakers vs. Warriors game. For all NBA fans, Stephen Curry vs LeBron is not a deal. We just don’t know how many more Steph-LeBron matchups there actually will be.
Boston will also be miserable entering the season without star player Jayson Tatum. But this is a good test for Jaylen Brown.
Many important role players on the new team will be gone, such as Kevon Looney of the Pelicans. He injured his left knee and is expected to miss at least two to three weeks.
The Spurs will also lose De'Aaron Fox, who played five games for San Antonio after joining the team last season.
Fox suffered a hamstring injury in the offseason that did not require surgery but required extensive rehab.
“I feel good,” Fox told the media late last week. “I felt like I could have played, but they wouldn’t let me.”
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