Latest news with #BrooklynNets'
USA Today
09-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Injury sidelines former UNC basketball star for duration of NBA Summer League
An injury will keep this UNC standout from playing in NBA Summer League action. Drake Powell won't play for the Brooklyn Nets' NBA Summer League team because of a left knee issue. #UNC #ProHeels Just two weeks after the highly-anticipated NBA Draft, we're starting to see final rosters take shape. Former UNC standout Drake Powell, who ascended into the starting lineup last year, went 22nd overall to the Atlanta Hawks – and ended up with the Brooklyn Nets. Two weeks post-draft means the start of NBA Summer League, which gives draft picks golden opportunities to showcase their skills in live, game action against each before preseason and regular season action. The post-draft hope was Powell, not guaranteed a starting spot in Brooklyn's lineup, would play for his new team in Summer League action. Earlier Tuesday, we learned Powell's decision. Due to a previously undisclosed injury in which Powell tweaked his left knee, he will not participate in Summer League action this month. Powell's rookie teammates – Egor Demin, Nolan Traoré, Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf and Adou Thiero – should all still suit up for the Nets this summer. "It's extremely disappointing not to play [in summer league] because coming in with these guys, I want to compete with them,' Powell said recently. 'So yeah it's definitely frustrating, but I understand it. I'd say it's more of a precaution type thing right now.' Powell showcased tremendous durability during his lone season in Chapel Hill, appearing in all 40 (three exhibition) Tar Heel games and starting 27 of them. Powell averaged 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game, but defense was his calling card, as evidenced by numerous chasedown blocks and defending the opposition's top scorer. When Powell first suits up for Brooklyn, he'll compete with Jalen Wilson and recently re-signed Ziaire Williams for minutes at small forward. There's also a chance that Powell plays minutes at shooting guard and power forward. Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
France 24
26-06-2025
- Sport
- France 24
NBA studying uptick of Achilles injuries
Silver, speaking to ESPN before the start of the NBA draft at the Brooklyn Nets' Barclays Center arena, said that there was no convincing evidence that the length of the NBA season was a factor, but that a range of causes are being studied. "We are looking at it," Silver said, "and in fact, we had already convened a panel of experts before Tyrese's most recent Achilles rupture. "So we had seven this year," he added. "We had zero last year under the exact same circumstances." He said the NFL had had a rash of Achilles injuries as well, and the purpose of convening the panel of experts "is to try to figure out what's going on." Haliburton was already playing with a sore calf when he was stricken in the title-deciding game seven against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who claimed their first title since moving to Oklahoma in 2008. The 25-year-old had surgery on Monday and is at risk of missing the entire 2025-26 campaign. Haliburton was the third player to suffer a torn Achilles in this post-season, after Boston's Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee's Damian Lillard. Critics point to the grueling 82-game regular season, but Silver said the most important thing was to try to find a pattern. "It's interesting, when we look back at the last 10 years the majority of the Achilles injuries have happened before the All-Star break, so it's not clear it's the number of games," he said. Silver said training players undertake in the off-season, and even stress on their bodies playing youth basketball -- before they ever even start their pro careers -- could be a factor. He suggested that Artificial Intelligence could eventually be a useful tool in pinpointing what needs to change. "This is one area where AI people are taking about how that's going to transform so many areas -- the ability with AI to ingest all video -- of every game a player has played in to see if you can detect there's some pattern that we didn't realize that leads to Achilles injury. "Whether it's associated with calf injuries we don't really know," he added. "But, look, we're taking it very seriously."
