A new medical study says there is a link between an increase in minutes played in the games before an Achilles tear and a player suffering that injury. The NBA, however, said that no relationship exists, according to its own internal research.

The study found some correlation between Achilles tears and higher minutes played in the 10 and 15 game samples preceding that injury, relative to the player’s season average. The paper was published last month in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine by doctors and researchers affiliated with the University of California San Francisco. It sought to find a reason behind Achilles tears in the NBA after a dramatic spike two years ago when seven NBA players tore their Achilles tendons, including three in the playoffs: Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton.

Only one player, Donte DiVincenzo, tore his Achilles last season.

The paper examined 19 Achilles tears over an 11-season period. The researchers also looked into whether a causal relationship exists between Achilles tears and the age, position, or role of the NBA player who suffered the injury, as well if there was some impact from a more dense schedule preceding the injury or if the player might have suffered from specialization in basketball at an early age. The study did not find any association between those variables.

“Significant workload spikes were found in the 10 to 15 games preceding Achilles ruptures for NBA players,” the paper concluded. “Veteran players carried heavier cumulative workloads, whereas younger players ruptured tendons under lighter use.”

The NBA disputed that conclusion.

“Over the past year, we have worked to better understand Achilles tendon injuries through a tendon health working group and additional research,” said Dr. John DiFiori, the NBA’s Director of Sports Medicine in a statement to The Athletic. “While we welcome continued learnings, we believe the recent paper on this topic has important methodological limitations.

“Our own extensive review of league data to date, conducted with independent epidemiologists and consultants, spanned the 2012-13 season to the present and found no relationship between Achilles tendon injuries and minutes played before injury. We remain committed to advancing research that informs player health, performance, and injury prevention.”

The NBA instituted its own research project into Achilles injuries last season after a number of high-profile injuries. The NBA had never had more than four players tear an Achilles before the 2024-25 season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last summer that the league put together a panel of experts to look into the spate of injuries.

“When we look back at the last 10 years, the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break,” Silver said. “So, it’s not clear it’s the number of games. And as you know, modern NBA players, even when they’re not playing games sometimes in the summer they’re working harder than they are during the season when they’re playing three games a week.”

He added, “I’m hopeful that by looking at more data, by looking at patterns, this is one area where A.I. — people are talking about how that’s going to transform so many areas — the ability with A.I. to ingest all video of every game a player’s played in to see if you can detect some pattern that we didn’t realize that leads to an Achilles injury.

“We’re taking it very seriously.”

The NBA has not announced the results of that inquiry.