A new NBA season looms, and with media days rolling through, teams are full of hope. Championship hopefuls are reloaded, the basement dwellers are drooling over their new rookies, and players everywhere are hoping to either grow their legend or turn the train around on what fate has in store for them.
And for these three superstars, that train has been rolling towards a single phrase at its final stop: 'injury-prone'. These three teams are arguably battling with the highest stakes against that label marring what could be, and by some arguments, already are, legendary careers. Let's dive in.
3. Zion Williamson
In all honesty, Zion Williamson could be the end-all-be-all of this list, as the modern-day picture of health getting in the way of superstardom. He has put up All-NBA level numbers when healthy, averaging nearly 25/5/5 for his entire career. However, that career includes a full season missed, as well as three where Zion has played 30 games or less.
And going into a contract year in 2025, Williamson is locked in, reportedly entering media day at the lightest he's ever weighed since joining the league. But unique on this list, Zion's health and weight problems seem largely self-inflicted, to the point where he is currently contractually required to conduct six weigh-ins per season. And if Zion passes both those and the threshold of 61 games played, he is eligible for substantial raises from the Pelicans, who would also, not coincidentally, finally be on the cusp of fulfilling their playoff potential with a healthy version of him in the lineup. Time will tell if he can remain that consistent.
2. Joel Embiid
And on the other end of the spectrum, we have Joel Embiid, who has somehow managed to live up to both the best and worst expectations for his career when the Sixers drafted him. Embiid's health has been an issue for him since his rookie season, and not-so-fun-fact, he has yet to match Zion's games played career high in a single season. Somehow, Williamson has managed to play 70 games, while Embiid has not -- and moreover, the perennial MVP candidate (when healthy) is coming off of two seasons in which his availability has tanked (39 games in 2023-24 and 19 in 2024-25).
However, Embiid is only 31, and his type of three-level scoring, footwork-based game should age well. The Sixers' reins might be slowly transitioning over to Tyrese Maxey, but Embiid still has All-NBA-level basketball in him if his body holds up for a few more seasons.
1. Ja Morant
It is baffling that the Zion Williamson comparison is getting brought up again, but he really is the only player on this list that has successfully played 70 games in a single season. Of the three though, Ja Morant is probably the most likely to turn his 'injury-prone' label around. Unlike Embiid, he enters the 2025-26 season on the cusp of when his physical prime should strike (Morant is 26), and unlike Williamson, he put question marks on his availability until the recent past, though it has seemed awhile since he was at his peak.
And prior to 2022-23, Morant was a legitimate MVP candidate, and has kept up his career averages of 25/8/5, even increasing his scoring average in 2024-25 to the highest it's been in three years (27.5 PPG). The Grizzlies, meanwhile, while finishing as the eighth seed last season, still went 48-34, and another year of Ja and JJJ rediscovering their chemistry on top of Zach Edey growing further could easily land them in the playoffs. If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Ja Morant turning things around ahead of the other two on this list.