Keith Allison

Paul Pierce is down and grabbing his knee.

Basketball players are being worked to death.

Caleb White was a 17 year old basketball player in Alabama. He was the third ranked player in Alabama at the time, forty-third ranked in the country. During a normal practice, he collapsed to the ground. He was immediately sent to the hospital, but couldn’t be saved by the doctors.  His mother stated the cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, has also had a cardiac arrest. He was practicing at the University of Southern California. He suddenly collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Luckily, he was released from the hospital in days, but young athletes suffering cardiac arrest isn’t unique or new.

Injuries to basketball players in general are happening more. 20 years ago, the 02-03 all star team starters averaged 79.7 games played. The 22-23 all star starters averaged 64.8 games played. Superstars are starting to use load management as a strategy. They’ll take games off as breaks for their own health. Even as medical technology gets better, they still get hurt more. Why is this?

The reason is they are worked too much. They start playing basketball professionally around 14, and some of them don’t stop until they’re 40. Ricky Rubio, long time NBA point guard, has stepped away from basketball citing mental health. “I have decided to stop my professional activity to take care of my mental health,” Rubio said. Rubio has been playing professional basketball since he was 14 in Spain. He is now 32. These players have been working for decades with barely any breaks.

Starting professional sports at such a young age takes years away from their bodies health. Players get hurt more and more now than ever. It raises the risk for young players to have heart problems such as cardiac arrest. Players need more breaks and time to focus on their own health, mentally and physically.