In the NBA, scary injuries aren’t always basketball-related

Utah Jazz forward Jaren Jackson Jr. cheers on his teammates from the bench during the first half of the game against the Denver Nuggets at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 2, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

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On Thursday, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was diagnosed with appendicitis and taken to a Houston hospital for surgery. Last month, Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung and sidelined until April 8.

An appendectomy is certainly not basketball-related, and a collapsed lung is not an injury that is often associated with basketball (though we’ve seen a few before). We’ve also seen players deal with blood clots and tumors and Bell’s palsy and other afflictions that aren’t avoidable or basketball-related.

The Utah Jazz even experienced something similar back when they traded for Jaren Jackson Jr. at the trade deadline. Jackson had a small, benign tumor in his knee. Surgery to remove the mass sidelined Jackson for the remainder of the season.

I bring up these things because the Jazz were able to see a silver lining in Jackson’s surgery. He would not suffer adversely long term, they would take care of something that could have caused problems if not addressed, and they could keep him sidelined — keeping a good player off the court in a tanking season.

But there’s not always a silver lining. It wasn’t certain that Cunningham would be able to return before the playoffs started, and the Pistons are the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.

The Sixers are trying to cling to hope for the postseason with a play-in spot and there are a number of other teams where injury has upended their season.

The Jazz are about to turn the page on their tanking era. Next season will be one in which the Jazz, at every level, are actively trying to win games. The last four years have been hard for Jazz fans and I understand what it’s been like to watch meaningless games year after year.

So, when these games start to matter, and the Jazz start to build toward being an actual contending team, it’s important to appreciate and even savor every single moment. Every time a player collides with another player and comes away unscathed, every time they have a hard fall but pop right back up, every time they come into the season healthy and leave without major complications, it’s important to appreciate it.

These guys put their bodies through so much and it’s nearly impossible to go through a season without injury, and that doesn’t even take into account all of the other random and scary things that can happen, that aren’t preventable and that can happen to any one of us.

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From the archives

Extra points

• Why Donovan Mitchell’s recent trip to SLC was particularly special (Deseret News)
• Utah Jazz outclassed in road loss to Oklahoma City Thunder (Deseret News)
• Second-half collapse against New Orleans gives Jazz 10th consecutive loss (Deseret News)

Around the league

• Magic fined for violating injury reporting rules
• Joel Embiid out of hospital, no timetable for return
• Chicago Bulls clean house, fire front office execs

Up next

• April 10 | 7:30 p.m. MDT | Utah Jazz vs. Memphis Grizzlies | KJZZ
• April 12 | 6:30 p.m. MDT | Utah Jazz @ Los Angeles Lakers | KJZZ