KAT's Durability

[Coolbreeze44]

KAT has gone from being an iron man to missing a lot of basketball games the last 2 years. I wouldn't call him injury prone yet, but are you concerned about being in the early stages of a trend? With no title contention in sight, he is by far our most valuable asset on the court and off. We need him healthy and playing to avoid any asset depreciation. Without much big-man help on the roster, I'm concerned he is just going to continue getting beat up.

[TheFuture]

KAT has gone from being an iron man to missing a lot of basketball games the last 2 years. I wouldn't call him injury prone yet, but are you concerned about being in the early stages of a trend? With no title contention in sight, he is by far our most valuable asset on the court and off. We need him healthy and playing to avoid any asset depreciation. Without much big-man help on the roster, I'm concerned he is just going to continue getting beat up.

I am worried. If I remember right, Dieng and Taj took the load off of him defensively the years prior. With them gone, now he is getting hurt.

[Lipoli390]

I'm not worried. He's played 5 seasons and he was a true iron man for the first 4, playing all 82 games his first three seasons and 77 games his 4th season. Note that his five missed games in his 4th season were because of a car accident and the League's standard concussion protocol.

The guys you worry about are those who have a bad knees that keep acting up (Brandon Roy) and guys who seems to have a numerous different injuries to different parts of their bodies over time. Towns doesn't fall into either category. KAT is well built and doesn't appear to have any serious chronic condition or a tendency to get a lot of different ailments. Most of the games he missed last season were due to a wrist injury, although I don't recall how he hurt it. I think he might have missed a few games with some soreness in his knee. This season, he fell back on his wrist battling in the paint. It's typically how wrist injuries occur.

Before last season, I was beginning to worry about the wear and tear on KAT's body playing every game and a lot of minutes each game, especially how hard he plays and how much he gets banged in the paint. If anything, his injuries last season and this season will probably lengthen his career and preserve his athleticism for a longer period of time. It's the silver lining in these freak injuries he's suffered. And thankfully, these injuries have not involved his legs.

I have a lot of concerns about this team and the path it's on. The one worry I don't have at all is KAT being injury prone. Unfortunately, based on everything I've read about his injury, he'll likely miss two months. That's a bummer. It's an even bigger bummer that Rosas dealt both of our 2021 draft picks for Russell. So there there will be no saving grace in the form of a higher draft pick.

[KG4Ever]

Perhaps, all those minutes that Thibs played him are starting to take a toll.

[Lipoli390]

Perhaps, all those minutes that Thibs played him are starting to take a toll.

I doubt all those minutes had anything to do with KAT falling on his wrist. :) I was worried about all those minutes in all 82 games compromising his long-term durability. But I don't think we're seeing that right now. And the good news is that KAT played in only 32 games last season and has played in only 2 so far this season. That might keep his body fresh and bode well for his long-term durability.

[Monster]

Basically the reason we are talking about this is because of Towns wrists because of 2 different injuries. That doesn't seem like an injury prone type of thing. It sucks though.

I bet it really sucks for him. Russell just got traded here then he is basically done for the season with the panic. Wolves start out 2-0 after a totally heartbreaking offseason and then he is out for a while and has to sit and watch. Clear everything away and think about it from a players perspective. It's part of the game but man I hope he can get right and get out there.

[Lipoli390]

Basically the reason we are talking about this is because of Towns wrists because of 2 different injuries. That doesn't seem like an injury prone type of thing. It sucks though.

I bet it really sucks for him. Russell just got traded here then he is basically done for the season with the panic. Wolves start out 2-0 after a totally heartbreaking offseason and then he is out for a while and has to sit and watch. Clear everything away and think about it from a players perspective. It's part of the game but man I hope he can get right and get out there.

I agree, Monster. I feel really bad for KAT. After all he's been through, he gets this injury just when it looked like this team might have something going for it with his close friend on the court with him. And he got this injury really battling to get his team a win.

[Coolbreeze44]

What about the idea that being the only big, he's going to get beat up by opposing teams 4s and 5s?

[FNG]

Maybe this has already been stated or implied in this thread, but I divide all injuries into two categories: situational (i.e. pertaining to a particular event) or recurring. To the best of my knowledge, all of KAT's injuries have been situational and would have likely happened to anybody. I worry more about guys like Butler who seem to miss a lot of time with things like general soreness. As someone said above, KAT was an iron man his first few years until some bad falls created injuries. I'm not worried about his durability.

[thedoper]

It only takes on injury to start the "injury prone" ball rolling. Hands are sensitive, and if your job involves constant impact on your hands it could develop into something chronic. I hope its an isolated freak thing, but thats two years in a row with hand issues.