The Portland Trail Blazers have endured plenty of injuries at the start of their 2025-26 NBA season. Fans tuned in hoping to see a brand new team with an exciting new play style. Instead they\u2019re getting the same six players over and over, stuck on an endless hamster wheel while potential help sits on the bench in street clothes.<\/p>\n
Is there a reason for this sad development? Could it have something to do with Portland\u2019s style of play? That\u2019s the concern of this Blazer\u2019s Edge Mailbag question.<\/p>\n
I hear a lot of people complaining about injuries on the Blazers this season, especially the guards. I also remember watching them play an aggressive style of full court defense at the start of the season. Is it possible that the aggressive defense that was meant to wear down our opponents over the course of a game is wearing down our own team over the course of the season?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the injured players who have played the fewest games for Portland this season. Here they are, along with the number of games they\u2019ve played so far this year out of 20 possible.<\/p>\n
As you can see, two injuries had nothing to do with the season at all, two have been to players who have a history of health issues, and of the three that actually happened in the course of play without prior precedent, one was minor (costing the player only four games) and another happened to a 35-year-old.<\/p>\n
We can\u2019t say that Portland\u2019s style of play has nothing to do with these injuries. It might. But we can\u2019t draw a direct correlation between injuries and anything that\u2019s going on in the current season yet. There\u2019s just too much noise obscuring the data.<\/p>\n
I will say that if Portland\u2019s style of play is having this dramatic of an effect this early in the season, they\u2019re in big trouble. We\u2019re barely passing the quarter-mark of the year. If all of this is related to their current choices, they won\u2019t make it to the halfway point. They might have to just forfeit the season!<\/p>\n
Best guess is that the two are only mildly related. Lots of teams are trying to play fast this year. Some of them have injuries, some less so.<\/p>\n
That guess will be tested in the months to come. Somewhere around February we should be able to look back and see who has been injured for the Blazers, how long they\u2019ve been down, and how that compares to past seasons, both their own and the team\u2019s. If Portland\u2019s lineup still looks like a hospital ward, maybe we\u2019ll be able to draw correlations to their playing style. If not, or if the only injured people are the ones you\u2019d suspect naturally, there\u2019s probably not a point.<\/p>\n
Either way, these injuries are frustrating but not conclusive. There\u2019s no reason to point to, or alter, Portland\u2019s style of play yet. The bigger concern as the season unfolds might be fatigue. That could evidence itself in injuries, but dipping shooting percentages and number of fast break points scored\/allowed are also items to watch. Those might be just as indicative of the sustainability of Portland\u2019s approach as games lost to injury.<\/p>\n
Until then, I think we have to face the reality that, with Lillard, Williams, Thybulle, and maybe now Henderson and Holiday (depending on continued ills), this team was built with the possibility of injuries playing a major role. That\u2019s not a pleasant reality of NBA life, but it\u2019s one of the potential factors. If the Blazers get, and stay, healthy we\u2019re likely to see a different team than the one we\u2019re getting now. If not, well, the best laid plans\u2026<\/p>\n