With NBA training camps expected to open in a few days, teams will have less time than normal to prepare for pre-season games and the regular season. As a result, teams and players may face more injuries which could sideline some for weeks.
In an effort to limit the amount of setback on the Lakers’ roster, team trainer Garry Vitti and his staff are being very careful when working with the players. “As you stress your body,” Vitti told NBA.com, “it will lay down more muscle, tendon and ligamentous tissue according to the loads you put upon them. It’s the same with bone.”
Due to this 66-game NBA season, players will have to play more games in a limited amount of time. On top of that, practices will occur more often and the players’ bodies may not have enough time to recover. Vitti mentioned what he felt were some of the biggest potential issues:
“Since I believe lack of recovery time is the biggest issue in our league, you couple the travel, time change and sleep pattern disruption to make it very difficult to recovery from the game or practice the day before. The margin for error is now lower given the schedule.”
Not many players have been apart of a shortened season, so this will be quite a challenging year for them. Luckily for the Lakers, their staff went through a 50-game season back in 1998-99 and understand how to deal with these circumstances.
