The Los Angeles Lakers are at the top of the basketball world right now after winning the 2020 NBA championship. Their celebration, however, will be the shortest one in history, considering they'll be back at it in just over a month for the start of the 72-game 2020-21 season.
The reigning titlists are expected to play on opening day on December 22 and must gear up for training camp on the very first day of December. Given the extremely quick turnaround, one official involved with the Lakers' player health development team aired his concerns, as reported by Baxter Holmes of ESPN
“I don't foresee all the Lakers guys playing the first month of the season (and going) all-out.”
Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Miami Heat wrapped up on October 12. This marks just a 71-day offseason. The Lakers and the Heat will likely experience fatigue the most, while teams who didn't make it to the NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida might have to shake off the rust since they've been out of action for almost nine months.
A spike in injuries has become a major cause of concern during this short timetable, especially a potential rise of soft-tissue injuries among players, an anonymous head athletic trainer of a Western Conference team claimed.
“This is going to be another period of unchartered territory. As unchartered as the (Orlando) bubble was (this summer), this is the bubble times three or four or five (because we're) trying to extend it to that period of time with a minimal ramp-up.”
Another health official aired his grievances about how the reopening of NBA arenas and short recovery periods between flights could spell disaster.
“I'd be more worried about travel, because we saw in the bubble, not having travel really helped guys recover. So I don't know if it's actually the amount of games (72), but it's just the fact that you're getting to 2 am in the morning and you're traveling now. That becomes a bigger issue.”
Aside from such risks, the congested schedule also greatly factors the length of this season's free agency period. Incoming rookies set to be drafted next week, meanwhile, will only have a month to get settled in with their new teams before making their debuts.
One thing's for sure, the Lakers and the rest of the NBA will face more challenging times ahead.
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