Injuries are the cruelest part of sports. They can derail a promising season, and, in some cases, zap players of the gifts that make them great. They are also largely based on luck, usually coming without any rhyme or reason.
However, there are some players that have more injury questions around them than others. And when it comes to star NBA players with those issues, whether luck falls in their favor can make or break their team's season. So, let's take a look at some of those players.
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
The 2026-27 Philadelphia 76ers have a chance to have the closest thing we've seen to the real-life Monstars with their starting lineup. The problem is that we may not get to see that five-man unit all that often.
Arguably the second-best (Tyrese Maxey is clearly their best player at this point) of the bunch, Joel Embiid, has had a really hard time staying on the court. He hasn't reached the 40 games played mark in the last three years, and he's never surpassed the 70 game threshold.
If Embiid is out of the mix, the 76ers don't really have a great option at center behind him (sorry, Adem Bona and Ariel Hukporti). So, to reach their full potential, the 76ers are going to need Embiid to stay healthy in a way that he hasn't been able to in quite sometime.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
After coming within one win of the 2025 NBA Championship, the Indiana Pacers had to take a gap year in 2025-26. The reason for this is that the Pacers were without their best player (Tyrese Haliburton) for the entirety of the season after the All-NBA guard tore his Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
Now, Haliburton is looking like he will be back in action for the start of the 2026-27 season. And with his return, the Pacers should be a formidable foe in the Eastern Conference once again.
However, we know that the history of returning from such a catastrophic injury isn't great, especially in the first season back. If Haliburton comes back in full form, the Pacers are going to be quite good. But if he's forced to miss significant amounts of time, well, you saw what happened last year.
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs have the second-best odds to win the NBA title next season (per FanDuel). That's because they have the face of the league in Victor Wembanyama on their roster.
The thing is that Wembanyama makes a huge impact on the Spurs' success. According to PBP Stats, when Wembanyama was on the floor last season, the Spurs had +16.8 net rating. But when he was on the bench, that number shrunk down to a +0.6.
Wembanyama may have been able to reach the mark necessary to be eligible for NBA awards, but it took a lot of load- managing from the Spurs to make it happen (he played just 29.2 MPG). What if load managing isn't enough to keep him on the floor this time? Simple, the Spurs' title chances are probably cooked.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Miami Heat
The Miami Heat traded basically all their depth to get Giannis Antetokounmpo to South Beach. It was worth it to acquire the former two-time MVP, who, when healthy, is still one of the five best basketball players on the planet.
Unfortunately, staying healthy hasn't really been Antetokounmpo's modus operandi these days. He only played 36 games last year, which can be forgiven because the Milwaukee Bucks were trying to keep him healthy in order to maintain his trade value.
But even before that, Antetokounmpo has missed at least 15 games in five of the last six seasons. Given how little depth the Heat now have, they can't afford to deal with an extended stretch of games without Antetokounmpo.
Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors
This trade still needs to be finalized (hurry up with the investigation, Adam Silver), but if it is, the Toronto Raptors will surely be viewed as a darkhorse contender out East.
The Raptors will be viewed as contenders because they have Leonard. Ipso facto, they need Leonard to stay healthy to maintain that status. That wasn't a problem for Leonard last year, as he appeared in 65 games. But before that, Leonard only reached that plateau once in his previous six seasons.
Unlike the Heat, the Raptors have the depth to let Leonard miss 20 or so games, but if he isn't fully healthy come playoff time, there will be no banners being raised in Toronto.
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