“Over the past year, we have worked to better …

Mike Vurkonov: The NBA says its research found no relationship between Achilles tears and minutes played. "Over the past year, we have worked to better understand Achilles tendon injuries through a tendon health working group and additional research," said Dr. John DiFiori, the NBA's Director of Sports Medicine. "While we welcome continued learnings, we believe the recent paper on this topic has important methodological limitations. Our own extensive review of league data to date, conducted with independent epidemiologists and consultants, spanned the 2012-13 season to the present and found no relationship between Achilles tendon injuries and minutes played before injury. We remain committed to advancing research that informs player health, performance, and injury prevention."