Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Did Not Substantially Impact Injury Patterns or Performance of Players in the National Basketball Association From 2016 to 2021.

To perform a descriptive epidemiologic analysis of National Basketball Association (NBA) injuries from 2016 to 2021, to evaluate the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19) on injury patterns and performance statistics, and to determine the effect of infection with SARS-CoV-2 on individual performance statistics. Injury epidemiology in the NBA from the 2016 to 2021 seasons was collected using a comprehensive online search. Injuries and time missed were categorized by injury location and type. Player positions and timing of injury were recorded. Performance statistics were collected including traditional game statistics and Second Spectrum (speed, distance) statistics. Comparisons were made over seasons and comparing the pre-COVID-19 pandemic seasons to the pandemic era seasons. Players diagnosed with COVID-19 were analyzed for changes in performance in the short or long term. Of the 3,040 injuries captured, 1,880 (61.84%) were in the lower extremity. Guards (77.44%) and forwards (75.88%) had a greater proportion of soft-tissue injuries ( In the NBA seasons from 2016 to 2021, most injuries were to the lower extremity. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic did not substantially impact injury patterns in the NBA, including locations of injury and type of injury (bony or soft tissue). Furthermore, infection with SARS-CoV-2 does not appear to have a significant impact on performance in basketball-specific or speed and distance measures. Level IV, prognostic case series.

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Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: N.K.P. reports consultant for OrthoPediatrics and educational support from Evolution Surgical, Inc. All other authors (Sachin A., A.R.G., N.C., N.T., A.P.G., J.C.M., Sameer A.) declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Full ICMJE author disclosure forms are available for this article online, as supplementary material.