Irving rejects 'injury prone' label: 'I'm nowhere near close to breaking down'
Some players simply get hurt more than others, and whether those players' injuries are recurrent, or whether they're isolated freak incidents that could in theory happen to anyone, it can be hard to shake the "injury prone" label once a pattern emerges.
Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving is one such player. Just four seasons into his NBA career, he's already missed large chunks of time to knee, ankle, back, foot, and shoulder issues. He played a career-high 75 regular-season games in 2014-15, but subsequently missed multiple playoff games with knee tendinitis, before his year was definitively ended by a knee-cap fracture in Game 1 of the Finals.
On the one hand, he's only 23 years old; he has plenty of time to alter the perception that he's injury prone. On the other hand, he's only 23 years old; that he already has such an extensive injury history is somewhat troubling.
Irving, for his part, isn't overly concerned, and knows all he can do is put himself in the best possible position to remain on the court.
"You think about injuries whether they have them when they're young, or old, or in the middle, it's part of the game," Irving said on the Doug Gottlieb Show on CBS Sports Radio. "For me, I know exactly what I'm doing in the weight room and exactly what I'm doing to prepare myself for the court, and if something happens, that's just part of the game. If I go out there and bump knees with someone and get a knee contusion and have to miss a game, and then I sprain my ankle, those aren't things that can be planned."
Irving is still recovering from surgery to repair his knee fracture. The Cavs have been upfront about their conservative approach to his rehab, and he may not see game action until January. Still, Irving bristles at the suggestion that his body is breaking down.
"For me, everyone putting in the notion of breaking down, I'm nowhere near close to breaking down, I can be completely honest with that," he said. "I'll just let my game on the court and my work ethic speak for all that. I'll never not put myself in a position to be successful for my teammates and for my organization. I could see if I wasn't putting in 100 percent effort in doing everything possible to prevent injuries, then cool, everyone can have their opinion and I'd start believing it. But no way will I start believing that my body will break down and I can't be better every single year."