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"I took a real break from basketball the first few weeks after the season ended to rehab my body. My recovery went great, and I’m 100% healthy again," Doncic wrote. "Taking some time away from basketball is something I do at the start of every offseason. It’s a different way to do things, but it works for me. When I let myself miss the game a little bit and try some new things, it only makes me more excited and motivated to get back to playing."
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.”
Mike Vorkunov: New medical study examining Achilles tears in the NBA said there was some correlation to increased workload in the 10 and 15 games before a player tore their Achilles. It found that players who got hurt averaged more minutes in the 10 and 15 game periods before the injuries than their season average. The study said: "No significant associations were identified between (Achilles tear rupture) occurrence and age, player position, role, early sport specialization, or measures of schedule congestion."
Moses Moody looked like he was itching to join the campers in ballhandling drills, but opted to simply be a passer. “He’s committed to the work,” Curry said. “He’s not fighting it.” Moody has been rehabbing in the Bay Area. He’s targeting September to resume running and returning to on-court work. Next season’s hope floats on Curry’s ability to carry the load until Moody and Butler, recovering from a torn ACL, return to playing.
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Delivering to his community has been an antidote for the monotony and frustration of rehab. “It was cool just having a vision in your head and then making it come to fruition,” Moody said, “and being able to actually see it turn out even better than you could have imagined it. “He was everything you could have ever asked him to be,” Moody said of Stephen Curry. “He flew in, woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning Friday to get here by seven for the golf tournament. Then he woke up at 6 in the morning Saturday to be here at the school for the event. He had the energy and the effort for everybody. I hope he enjoyed it. I think he did.”
Josh Robbins: Wizards wing Jamir Watkins underwent surgery today to repair a torn ACL in his left knee, a team source told @TheAthleticNBA. Watkins, who is on a two-way contract, suffered the injury during the Wizards’ NBA Summer League opener. He could miss the entire 2026-27 season.
That was his fate on Jan. 19, when Butler tore his ACL, then reiterated on March 23, when Moody tore his left patellar tendon. “And you hope that they both come back healthy,” Stephen Curry said, “and we can play at a level that keeps us relevant and competitive and builds a foundation so that we can figure out what it looks like. But that is the situation. We don’t live in any alternative universe.”
Tyrese Haliburton on his physical recovery and return to basketball: "This week is week 52. This is my one year. I feel so good. I'm playing five-on-five, doing hard workouts every day. I could pretty much say I'm back at this point. I feel like I'm in shape, but there's a difference between being in shape and being in game shape. I feel like I took a different thing. I like to play fast, so I got to get back to there, which will take some time."
ESPN's Anthony Slater provided an update on Jimmy Butler's recovery from ACL surgery during Wednesday's episode of "NBA Today," relaying what people close to the Warriors forward have observed in recent weeks. "I've talked to people that have been around Jimmy Butler recently," Slater said. "They say he's a little over five months from the ACL surgery. He's turned the corner a little bit in the last few weeks. He still can't run unrestricted -- sprint in a full line -- but they feel like he's making progress."
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"There's probably an unfair burden being put on him to come back in that January-February range and boost them midseason, considering he's 37 [36, will be 37 in Sept.]," Slater said. "But he's a really confident individual. He's extension-eligible in February, so there's some personal motivation. He'll be an unrestricted free agent next summer."
Anthony Slater: I've talked to people that been have been around Jimmy Butler recently. And they say he's about a little over five months from the ACL surgery. He's turned the corner a little bit in the last few weeks. You know, he still can't run, sprint in a full line, but they feel like he's making progress and there's probably an unfair burden being put on him to come back in the January, February range, 11-12 months, and boost them mid-season considering he's 37. But he's a really confident individual. He is extension eligible in February. So there's some personal motivation. He'll be an unrestricted free agent next summer. I talked to him last month. I think we may have a quote right here coming up. But he's basically again as confident as ever saying he expects to come back as the same player that he was when he left. And if you think about it, you mentioned I think they were on like a 12-2 run over 14 games. And he was averaging 20 a game.
![I’ll be in this [cast] for about another six weeks, …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/887914.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
Following the Knicks’ championship win, in which Jalen Brunson was named NBA Finals MVP and scored 45 points in the close-out game, he had surgery to repair a tendon in his left wrist. Fans — including this writer — were surprised that Brunson turned in a Michael Jordan-esque performance in the Finals with a bum wrist, and he sported a cast to the interview. “I was more in pain when I wasn’t in the game versus when we were actually playing. I feel like the adrenaline took over. But yeah, it was definitely an obstacle, but we found a way through,” he describes, adding, “Because it’s my tendon and my structure, my wrist is fine. There was soft tissue that was holding my tendon and it kept flipping and snapping over the bone every time I shot, every time I flicked my wrist, and so clearly it was causing pain, causing friction… I’ll be in this [cast] for about another six weeks, and then from that point on, it’s just my rehab after that. But I should be good.”
Spurs rookie forward Jayden Quaintance underwent surgery to repair meniscus damage in his right knee, the team announced Wednesday. The 19-year-old Quaintance, whom the Spurs selected with the 20th overall pick in last month's NBA draft, came to the club with a history of knee issues.