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The news broke in the early hours Friday morning that Wesley Matthews of the Portland Trailblazers has ruptured his Achilles and is out for the season. The injury is one Pistons fans are sadly too familiar with, seeing Brandon Jennings suffer the same injury in the midst of playing the best basketball of his career.
But Matthews and Jennings are just two victim's of the NBA's punishing season, and one this year that has seen long-term injuries to several key players. While plenty of players will get little injuries over the course of a season, I cannot recall in my NBA watching days a season where there have been so many serious injuries to legitimate stars in the league.
A running list:
| Player | Injury | Games Played |
| Ryan Anderson | Knee | 52 |
| Carmelo Anthony | Knee | 40 |
| Chris Bosh | Chest | 44 |
| Kobe Bryant | Shoulder | 35 |
| Alec Burks | Shoulder | 27 |
| Jimmy Butler | Elbow | 55 |
| Kevin Durant | Foot | 27 |
| Joel Embiid | Foot | 0 |
| Paul George | Leg | 0 |
| Blake Griffin | Elbow | 51 |
| Jrue Holiday | Leg | 37 |
| Dwight Howard | Knee | 32 |
| Brandon Jennings | Achilles | 41 |
| Kendall Marshall | Knee | 28 |
| Wesley Matthews | Achilles | 59 |
| Josh McRoberts | Knee | 17 |
| Shabazz Muhammad | Finger | 38 |
| Steve Nash | Back | 0 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | Ankle | 45 |
| Jabari Parker | Knee | 25 |
| Julius Randle | Leg | 1 |
| Derrick Rose | Knee | 46 |
| Jared Sullinger | Foot | 51 |
| Mirza Teletovic | Chest | 40 |
| Anderson Varejao | Achilles | 26 |
| Kemba Walker | Knee | 42 |
| Russell Westbrook | Hand | 46 |
| Tony Wroten | Knee | 30 |
That's quite a list, and it includes seven All-Stars. Most of these players are injured at the time of writing and will either not be back at all this season or still miss a fair chunk of time.
Some teams have been hit harder than others, and two traditional powerhouses in the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls have been particularly affected.
| Team | Players Injured |
| Bulls |
Derrick Rose (knee, out until at least April), Jimmy Butler (elbow, late-March), Taj Gibson (ankle, mid-March) |
| Lakers |
Julius Randle (leg, season), Steve Nash (back, season), Kobe Bryant (shoulder, season), Nick Young (knee, day-to-day), Ronnie Price (elbow, April) |
Also, and I know that some people (*cough smichael69 *cough) don't like to rely on injuries to win, but the Houston Rockets may be shorthanded for Friday's matchup with the Pistons. Dwight Howard has already been ruled out, but Patrick Beverley (foot), Terrence Jones (back) and Kostas Papanikolaou (ankle) are all questionable.
Injuries are a sad, yet unavoidable part of professional sports. Let's hope the rest of the season is relatively smooth, Pistons players and otherwise; we just want good entertainment.