The Timberwolves got a massive win on Saturday night to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series with the rival Nuggets. But unfortunately, the result was largely overshadowed by something that has become far too commonplace in the NBA postseason: gruesome injuries.
Just minutes into the game, the air was taken out of the arena after Donte DiVincenzo missed a three, started to backpedal, then stopped and tried to lunge forward for a rebound. The motion was incredibly familiar. Donte immediately went down and started clutching the back of his right foot, and before the game was even over, it was reported that he had suffered a torn right achilles, obviously ending his season.
The Celtics went through this exact pit of despair almost one year ago, except with Jayson Tatum, who crumpled in similar fashion, and we all know the rest. But it wasn’t just JT; this is a league-wide epidemic.
Last season, just in the playoffs, we lost Tatum, Damian Lillard, and Tyrese Haliburton. Now, we’re not even done with round one, and we’ve already seen another casualty. I’m not sure what the league can or will do, and I’m glad it’s not my problem to figure out, but this feels like an issue that’s not going away.
Last four playoff achilles injuries all to players wearing #0
Call it a trend, a coincidence, irony, bad luck, or what have you, but it’s impossible not to notice what’s in common between Tatum, Dame, Haliburton, and now DDV: they all wear the number zero on their jersey.
Every player who tore their Achilles the last 2 playoffs wore number 0
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) April 26, 2026
That jersey is cursed pic.twitter.com/vH1Rtl4oFA
There’s nothing to take away from this other than it’s a little freaky, and for anyone else who wears that number around the league, maybe be extra careful. Among guys still playing, that list notably includes Tyrese Maxey, Jalen Duren, Jonathan Kuminga, Anthony Black, and Christian Braun.
It feels wrong to even bring it up, but after four consecutive instances, that’s a little too crazy a trend to not even mention. The NBA playoffs are great every year, and so far, this season has been no exception.
This first round has had a bit of everything, and unfortunately, that now includes injuries. While it wasn’t an achilles, Anthony Edwards suffered a gruesome injury later in the same game, hyperextending his knee, which will cause him to be out for multiple weeks as well.
The basketball is awesome. The injuries are awful. Hopefully, this is the last time we have to talk about this, but this is becoming a massive problem for the league, and the sooner they figure out a way to address it, the better.
Add us as a preferred source on Google