The NBA faces a concerning pattern this season with Achilles injuries reaching alarming levels across the league.
The playoffs brought even more devastating news as Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Haliburton all suffered the same fate.
Commissioner Adam Silver recently revealed the league’s response to this troubling trend.
“Adam Silver says they’re using AI to look into why Achilles tears increased this season, per ESPN,” Legion Hoops shared on X.
Adam Silver says they’re using AI to look into why Achilles tears increased this season, per ESPN pic.twitter.com/Tpz5RakC8v
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) June 26, 2025
The investigation was already underway before Haliburton’s injury during Game 7 of the Finals, according to Silver’s interview with ESPN ahead of Wednesday’s NBA Draft.
The league has assembled a panel of sports medicine experts alongside artificial intelligence technology to tackle this issue head on.
Silver highlighted the puzzling nature of these injuries, noting that most occur before the All Star break despite no clear connection to game volume.
Many players actually train more intensively during the offseason than they do during the regular season grind.
The commissioner sees artificial intelligence as more than just an analytics tool.
The technology will analyze game footage spanning entire careers, searching for subtle movement patterns or recurring strain points that might predict injury risk long before symptoms appear.
The relationship between calf injuries and Achilles tears remains unclear, but Silver believes this unknown territory represents exactly where AI could deliver meaningful breakthroughs.
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