More often than not, when a player gets injured, it simply means missing a few weeks, or at most a few months, before they can return to full training and eventually make their way back into games. Sometimes, though, injuries linger and take a toll on a player’s career. The NBA has seen several examples of this over the years, and Robert Horry recently addressed the issue, just days after Luka Doncic’s injury scare.
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Doncic hurt his knee on Saturday in a EuroBasket practice game, which immediately raised concerns back in Los Angeles. Did he tear a ligament? That was all Lakers fans could think about until it was later ruled a contusion. Still, the idea of the Slovenian star, who had just signed a $65 million contract in the U.S., suffering an injury while on national duty thousands of miles away from LA would have been gut-wrenching.
Horry, who won seven NBA championships, feels that international matches can be dangerous that way. On the Big Shot Bob podcast, he spoke about players returning from their national camps looking tired, while also reminiscing about Yao Ming’s shortened career, which he also blamed on international play.
Horry remembered looking at Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili during his time at the San Antonio Spurs and realizing how tired they looked. “I said, ‘Listen, man, you all are f****** with my money. You all look tired at the end of the season. I do not play for your country. I know you love your countries, but they got other players they can play’,” Horry told them.
As far as Horry was concerned, the likes of Parker, Ginobili, and other foreign players were contracted to win for teams in the U.S. So, he didn’t want them ‘wasting’ their energy over in Europe or South America in the off-season. Those who did, in fact, sit out the international tournaments looked “fresh” at the end of the season, according to Horry.
Ming, the No. 1 pick of the 2002 Draft, always traveled to China, however, whenever his services were called upon. “That’s kind of what ended Yao’s career early,” Horry opined. “Playing for China, doing all that stuff at that size and then running up and down that court, took a toll on his feet, those legs, and that was a wrap.”
Ming had a stellar career in the NBA until 2011, when he retired from professional basketball altogether, and Horry could be right in attributing international ball as the root cause behind that. There are 82 games in a regular NBA season, followed by seven-game series if you make it to the playoffs. In those three months away from basketball, most players choose to rest their bodies.
That said, players also have a sense of loyalty to their country. That is why the likes of Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and others always make it to Europe whenever a big tournament, the World Cup, or the Olympics approaches. So what Horry wants may not happen.
