Does playing in the Olympics have a deleterious effect on the health of players?

[nickagneta]

I am no doctor nor do I try to play one on the internet but I can't help think that playing for a national team in the summer and taking no time off to recuperate from a long NBA season can't be good for the players.

For the USA team we have seen Kobe Bryant and Kevin Love lost for the season the year after their Olympic run. Tyson Chandler lost 15 games to injury. Anthony Davis lost 20 games and Deron Williams hasn't been the same all year due to bad ankles that happened over the summer.

Internationally, Pau Gasol, Anderson Varejao, Leandro Barbosa, Nene, Manu Ginobilli, Tony Parker, Jonas Valanciunas and Andrei Kirilenko have all lost time to injuries.

Out of 41 NBA players that played in the Olympics last summer, 12 have had injuries that effected a very large portion of this year.

Now, before anyone comes out and says that those injuries could have occurred even if they didn't play in the Olympics, but I can't help thinking, this is something more and more NBA teams are going to start exploring the frequency of occurrence on and might start telling their players they don't want them doing that.

And yes, I know the NBA office is the one that wants the players in the Olympics promoting NA basketball world wide, but the NBA office doesn't invest tens of millions on these players contracts. The owners do. Sooner or later someone really important to a championship or the league(LeBron, KD, etc.) is going to get hurt bad the year after the Olympics and then I think the reaction will be worse. I just hope it isn't a Celtic.

[Fafnir]

Is a frequency of 30% given the age of the players in question even register as an outlier?

[Boris Badenov]

I am no doctor nor do I try to play one on the internet but I can't help think that playing for a national team in the summer and taking no time off to recuperate from a long NBA season can't be good for the players.

For the USA team we have seen Kobe Bryant and Kevin Love lost for the season the year after their Olympic run. Tyson Chandler lost 15 games to injury. Anthony Davis lost 20 games and Deron Williams hasn't been the same all year due to bad ankles that happened over the summer.

Internationally, Pau Gasol, Anderson Varejao, Leandro Barbosa, Nene, Manu Ginobilli, Tony Parker, Jonas Valanciunas and Andrei Kirilenko have all lost time to injuries.

Out of 41 NBA players that played in the Olympics last summer, 12 have had injuries that effected a very large portion of this year.

Now, before anyone comes out and says that those injuries could have occurred even if they didn't play in the Olympics, but I can't help thinking, this is something more and more NBA teams are going to start exploring the frequency of occurrence on and might start telling their players they don't want them doing that.

And yes, I know the NBA office is the one that wants the players in the Olympics promoting NA basketball world wide, but the NBA office doesn't invest tens of millions on these players contracts. The owners do. Sooner or later someone really important to a championship or the league(LeBron, KD, etc.) is going to get hurt bad the year after the Olympics and then I think the reaction will be worse. I just hope it isn't a Celtic.

It's an important and legitimate question.

I think this might be something that the players themselves know the most about, and it also could be player-specific. Some guys can take the extra work and some can't. And the players themselves bear a lot of the downside, so they have every incentive to make the right decisions. 

By the same token, players feel differently about the Olympics as an event - some don't care much and others view it as really important to themselves. So, you wouldn't want to prohibit anyone who wanted to play for patriotic reasons from doing so.

I think the most reasonable thing would be to just have the league and the IOC grant players complete discretion, and not pressure them to play (or bad-mouth them if they don't). E.g., if someone like Tony Parker makes a deep playoff run, he should be able to decide as an individual without worrying about pressure to play or not play.

Also, the teams can buy insurance, I think - both for injuries suffered during the Olympics or the following season. This could protect them from financial losses.

[pearljammer10]

Interesting correlation. I think what a player does in their off time greatly has to do with how their season goes. The body needs time to rest and heal. Playing a riguorous NBA schedule year round can definitely cause the body to break down.

[nickagneta]

Davis - 20
Valanciunas - 20
Love - 24
Williams - 28
Varejao - 30
Chandler - 30
Barbosa - 30
Nene - 30
Parker - 30
Gasol - 32
Bryant - 34
Ginobilli - 35

Doesn't appear that age was a factor. 6 of the 12 were either 28 or 30 years old. 3 player were less than that age group and 3 players were older.

I don't see age as an outlier right away but I haven't done an exhaustive study either. I just thought I saw a high incidence and wondered.

I do agree it is up to the players and only they know for sure but sometimes players have to be protected from themselves. For instance, I think Manu and Varejao and Williams are three players that given their 2011-12 seasons and injury histories, probably should never have been allowed to play by their teams.

[Boris Badenov]

I do agree it is up to the players and only they know for sure but sometimes players have to be protected from themselves. For instance, I think Manu and Varejao and Williams are three players that given their 2011-12 seasons and injury histories, probably should never have been allowed to play by their teams.

Can the players and teams write into a player's contract whether the player or the team gets to decide? That might solve some of these problems. You'd have to give some compensation, but it seems like a possibility.

[BballTim]

Sooner or later someone really important to a championship or the league(LeBron, KD, etc.) is going to get hurt bad the year after the Olympics and then I think the reaction will be worse. I just hope it isn't a Celtic.

  I've always felt that Rondo's nearly season-long injury struggles in 10-11 were due to his playing through game 7 of the finals and then spending much of his abbreviated offseason playing with USA basketball.

[indeedproceed]

TP for nick for correctly spelling and using 'deleterious'

[Who]

I think players usually have enough time to recover physically from those competitions but I think mental fatigue is a major issue.

The type of focus and commitment required is exhausting.  I don't think players have enough time to properly recharge their batteries for the next upcoming season. To give full effort and focus to their NBA teams.

[bucknersrevenge]

Someone actually used the word "deleterious" in a topic. Color me intrigued. I don't even know what this word means.

[ManUp]

I believe so.

I'd imagine it's why Yao had to retire so early.