A Look Back at the Most Impactful NBA Injured Players of 2018
As I sit here reflecting on the 2018 NBA season, I can't help but marvel at how injury narratives shaped the entire landscape of professional basketball that year. While watching La Salle's impressive undefeated run through the UAAP Group of the Playtime Cares Filoil EcoOil 18th Preseason Cup presented by ABC Tile Adhesive, I was reminded how injuries can completely derail a team's momentum or, conversely, create unexpected opportunities for other players to shine. The parallel between collegiate and professional basketball became strikingly clear to me - whether in the Philippines or the NBA, a single injury can rewrite a team's entire season.
Let me take you back to that pivotal 2017-2018 season where injuries weren't just minor setbacks but genuine game-changers. I remember watching the Golden State Warriors' championship defense and thinking how different things might have been if Stephen Curry hadn't suffered that MCL sprain in March. The numbers still stick with me - he missed 31 consecutive games, the longest absence of his career up to that point. What amazed me was how the Warriors managed to go 15-16 without him, proving both their depth and their vulnerability. I've always believed Curry's value gets underestimated, but seeing the team struggle without him really drove home his importance. When he returned for the playoffs, you could tell he wasn't quite the same player - his three-point percentage dropped to about 38% in the postseason compared to his regular season average of 42%.
Then there was Kyrie Irving's situation in Boston. I recall talking with fellow analysts about how the Celtics were genuine contenders until Irving's knee surgery in April sidelined him for the entire playoffs. The statistics showed Boston was 36-11 when Irving played that season and 19-16 without him. What fascinated me was watching how Terry Rozier stepped up in his absence, averaging 18.2 points per game in the playoffs compared to his regular season average of 11.3. It created this interesting dilemma - did Irving's injury actually reveal hidden depth, or did it cost Boston a legitimate shot at the Finals? Personally, I think they would have challenged Cleveland much more effectively with a healthy Irving.
The most heartbreaking story for me was DeMarcus Cousins. I still remember where I was when I heard he'd torn his Achilles tendon in January 2018. He was having a career year - averaging 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists - numbers no center had put up since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. What made it particularly cruel was the timing, coming right before free agency and effectively costing him millions. I've always been a Cousins fan, and watching his career trajectory change so dramatically was tough. The Pelicans were 27-21 when he went down and finished 48-34, but they never quite recovered that same dominant interior presence.
Kawhi Leonard's situation was perhaps the most mysterious. He played only 9 games that season due to a quad injury, and the entire saga between his camp and the Spurs organization became this ongoing drama. I remember covering this story and being struck by how much confusion surrounded his actual condition. The Spurs still won 47 games without him, which speaks to Popovich's coaching genius, but they lacked that closing ability in crucial moments. From my perspective, this injury didn't just affect one season - it fundamentally altered the future of the franchise, eventually leading to Leonard's departure to Toronto.
John Wall's case was particularly interesting to me because it represented the cumulative effect of injuries over time. He underwent knee surgery in January 2018 that kept him out for about 6-8 weeks, but what many people don't realize is that he was playing through pain long before the surgery. The Wizards were 25-20 when he went under the knife and finished 43-39. Wall's absence highlighted both his value and the team's dependence on him - they lacked secondary playmaking, and their offensive efficiency dropped from 106.3 to 102.8 without him.
Looking at these cases collectively, what strikes me is how injuries create these ripple effects throughout the league. They don't just affect individual players or teams - they reshape playoff pictures, alter legacies, and sometimes even change how the game is played. The Warriors might have won more comfortably with a healthy Curry throughout the playoffs, Boston might have challenged LeBron's dominance in the East, and who knows what would have happened if Cousins had been healthy heading into free agency.
This brings me back to that La Salle team I mentioned earlier - their undefeated preseason run shows how fragile success can be in basketball. One key injury could have completely changed their trajectory, just as it did for numerous NBA teams in 2018. Having covered basketball for over fifteen years, I've come to see injuries not as random misfortunes but as integral parts of the sport's narrative fabric. They test depth, reveal character, and sometimes create unexpected heroes. The 2018 season taught me that while superstars drive the NBA's narrative, their absences often write the most compelling stories of all.
