13 most devastating NBA Playoff injuries: Ranking moments that changed history, from Jayson Tatum to Derrick Rose
Injuries have significantly impacted NBA playoff history, often altering the trajectory of teams and players. Yao Ming's re-injury in 2009 marked the end of his career, while Patrick Ewing's absence in 1999 saw the Knicks unexpectedly advance, only to falter in the Finals. Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant both suffered crucial injuries in the 2019 Finals, preventing the Warriors from securing another championship. Jayson Tatum's Achilles tear in 2025 not only ended the Celtics' playoff hopes but also affected the team's future prospects. Derrick Rose's ACL tear in 2012 is considered the most devastating, derailing both his career and the Chicago Bulls' championship ambitions.
Context:
Injuries have significantly impacted NBA playoff history, often altering the trajectory of teams and players. Yao Ming's re-injury in 2009 marked the end of his career, while Patrick Ewing's absence in 1999 saw the Knicks unexpectedly advance, only to falter in the Finals. Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant both suffered crucial injuries in the 2019 Finals, preventing the Warriors from securing another championship. Jayson Tatum's Achilles tear in 2025 not only ended the Celtics' playoff hopes but also affected the team's future prospects. Derrick Rose's ACL tear in 2012 is considered the most devastating, derailing both his career and the Chicago Bulls' championship ambitions.
Dive Deeper:
Yao Ming's 2009 foot injury during the Western Conference Semifinals against the Lakers ended his season and career shortly after, despite the Rockets pushing the series to seven games.
Patrick Ewing's Achilles injury in the 1999 Eastern Conference Finals led to the Knicks advancing without him, but the team couldn't sustain the momentum against the Spurs in the Finals.
Klay Thompson suffered an ACL tear in the 2019 NBA Finals after Kevin Durant's Achilles tear, both injuries contributing to the Warriors' loss to the Raptors and altering their championship path.
In the 2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Jayson Tatum's Achilles tear significantly impacted the Celtics' performance and future, as he was expected to miss most of the following season.
Derrick Rose's ACL tear in the 2012 playoffs is viewed as the most singularly devastating injury, leading to the Bulls' early exit and affecting Rose's career trajectory with subsequent injuries.
Kawhi Leonard's 2017 ankle injury against the Warriors ended the Spurs' playoff hopes and began the deterioration of his relationship with the team, leading to his eventual trade to the Raptors.
Chris Paul's hamstring injury in the 2018 Western Conference Finals prevented the Rockets from potentially defeating the Warriors, as the team struggled without his presence in crucial moments.
Injuries are an inescapable fact of life in the NBA. When the stakes get higher and the games get more intense, the risk of injury rises — and that has led to numerous impactful injuries in the playoffs over the years.
No playoffs go by without injuries having some kind of impact. Few players are actually 100 percent healthy by the time the regular season ends, and those who are, still have to survive the increased physicality of the playoffs.
In some cases, playoff injuries have changed NBA history, altering the path to a championship and tinkering with legacies.
The Sporting News takes a look at the 12 most devastating NBA Playoff injuries and how they changed the course of the league's history.
13. Yao Ming re-injures foot vs. Lakers (2009 Western Conference Semifinals)
Rockets star Yao Ming had already dealt with a foot injury before the 2008-09 season, but a setback during Houston's Western Conference Semifinals series against the Lakers proved to be a death knell for his NBA career.
Ming and the Rockets upset the Lakers in Game 1 of the series, but they dropped the next two, with Ming suffering a foot injury in Game 3. Tests revealed a hairline fracture in Ming's foot. While he initially said there was less concern than there was a year earlier, when he underwent surgery, Ming ultimately underwent another surgery and missed the entire 2009-10 season. He would only play five more games in his NBA career before retiring in 2011.
The Rockets, meanwhile, still pushed the Lakers to seven games, but were held to 70 points on the road in Game 7. L.A. went on to win the NBA Finals, receiving its toughest challenge from Houston.
12. Knicks lose Patrick Ewing ahead of NBA Finals (1999 Eastern Conference Finals)
The Knicks went just 27-23 in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, but they secured a date with the rival Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals and won the series despite veteran Patrick Ewing bowing out with an Achilles injury (not a tear) after Game 2.
While Ewing was 36 at the time, many expected the Knicks to fade without the big man. That didn't happen until the NBA Finals, when a dominant Spurs team won four out of five and captured its first championship.
Ewing's injury became a shining example of the "Ewing Theory," popularized by pundit Bill Simmons. The Ewing Theory occurs when a player who receives outsized attention but doesn't win anything meaningful either leaves a team or gets injured, leading fans and the media to prematurely write that team off. The Knicks seemed to play better without Ewing against the Pacers, unexpectedly winning the series, though that momentum couldn't carry over to the Finals.
11. Klay Thompson's ACL tear puts dagger in Warriors (2019 NBA Finals)
Three days after Kevin Durant's torn Achilles overshadowed a Game 5 win for the Warriors, Golden State saw a typically durable Klay Thompson go down with a serious knee injury late in Game 6. Thompson was able to stay in for a moment to attempt free throws, but the diagnosis of a torn ACL came later in the night after the Warriors were eliminated by the Raptors.
Toronto finished off its first championship after a back-and-forth second half, leaving Warriors fans wondering whether a 3-1 comeback could have been completed if Durant and Thompson were healthy.
The injury was the first of two major setbacks for Thompson, as he tore his Achilles during a pickup game before the 2020-21 season.
10. Kawhi Leonard injures ankle vs. Warriors (2017 Western Conference Finals)
The Warriors entered the 2017 playoffs as overwhelming favorites to win the West and the NBA championship, but the Spurs — who surprised some by taking out the Rockets in the conference semifinals — had Golden State on its heels with a 21-point lead in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals when Kawhi Leonard aggravated an ankle injury.
Warriors center Zaza Pachulia stepped on Leonard's foot, injuring an ankle that was already at less than 100 percent and ultimately knocked the Spurs star out for the remainder of the series. San Antonio was swept, blowing the lead in Game 1 and taking a 36-point beating in Game 2 before dropping two games at home.
Whether the Spurs would have had any chance of taking down the Warriors in 2017 with Leonard is questionable at best. Yes, San Antonio had a sizable lead on the road in Game 1, but Golden State won 67 games with Kevin Durant in the fold and coasted past the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
The injury arguably marked the beginning of the end of Leonard's tenure with the Spurs, as he only played nine games the following season due to a separate injury and mysteriously refused to get back on the court when cleared by team doctors. The Spurs traded Leonard to the Raptors in 2018.
It wouldn't be the final time Leonard saw his playoff run end prematurely, as he suffered a partially torn ACL in the Clippers' second round series against the Jazz in 2021 and wasn't on the floor when L.A. was eliminated in 2023 or 2024.
9. Kyrie Irving's ankle injury shifts momentum away from Nets (2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals)
After the Nets blew past the Bucks in the first two games of the East Semifinals in 2021, it was becoming tougher to envision any team knocking off the trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. The three veterans had everything working until Irving suffered a sprained ankle in Game 4 that would knock him out for the remainder of the series.
The Nets were still sitting pretty after winning Game 5 on the back of a heroic performance by Durant, but Irving's absence hurt the team in back-to-back losses to close out the series. Harden had also gone down with a hamstring injury earlier in the series, though he returned at clearly less than 100 percent later in the matchup.
Count Irving among those who believe his injury cost the Nets a championship. "If I don't get hurt that series, every single one of us on that Brooklyn team/bandwagon would be Champions," Irving tweeted in 2023. "No f— doubt about it."
8. Kyrie Irving fractures kneecap vs. Warriors (2015 NBA Finals)
Irving was at the center of another "what if" when he suffered a season-ending broken kneecap in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals against the Warriors.
Playing in his first career Finals game, Irving hit the court while down by four in overtime and couldn't get back up. It only took a day for the Cavaliers to confirm his season was over, leaving both Irving and Kevin Love (shoulder) sidelined for Cleveland.
The Cavaliers might not have won Game 1 if Irving was able to finish out, but the following two games — both wins, aided by some heroics from Matthew Dellavedova — lent credence to the idea Cleveland might have been able to pull off the upset against a talented Warriors team that didn't have championship experience at the time. Instead, Golden State won the final three games of the series to capture its first title in 40 years.
7. Chris Paul's hamstring injury halts Rockets' run (2018 Western Conference Finals)
The two best teams in the NBA in 2018 were clearly the Warriors and Rockets, with the Cavaliers dropping to No. 4 in the East but still reaching the NBA Finals in a depleted conference. After Houston went up 3-2 in the series, it looked like the Warriors might go down in the West for the first time since 2014 — until the hamstring injury suffered by Chris Paul late in Game 5 kept him out for the final two games.
The Rockets led by double-digits at halftime of both Game 6 and Game 7, but the offense went awry in each game. Houston scored just 25 second-half points on the road in Game 6, leading to a 29-point loss, while an 11-point lead faded at home in Game 7 as the Rockets infamously missed 27 consecutive 3-pointers.
Paul was supposed to be the calming presence who could step in and score when the 3s weren't falling. Instead, without the future Hall of Famer on the floor, the Rockets couldn't stop the bleeding and suffered just a nine-point loss despite shooting 7-of-44 from long range.
Paul missed the end of another playoff series while with the Suns in 2023. when a groin injury knocked him out of the final four games of a losing effort against the eventual champion Nuggets.
6. Isiah Thomas' valiant effort on sprained ankle falls short (1988 NBA Finals)
The Pistons finally knocked off the Celtics in the 1988 Eastern Conference Finals before going up 3-2 against the Lakers in the NBA Finals, but a severely sprained ankle for Isiah Thomas shifted momentum towards L.A. in the series.
Thomas continued to play and actually dominated the third quarter with 25 points, but the Lakers would win by a point and force a Game 7. A fully healthy Thomas might have been the difference in Game 7, as the Pistons lost by only three despite a mostly ineffective Thomas scoring 10 points in 28 minutes.
The Pistons would get their revenge with back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990, but Thomas' injury looked like the difference between a championship and a painful result in 1988.
5. Magic Johnson's hamstring injury dooms Lakers vs. Pistons (1989 NBA Finals)
Both the Lakers and Pistons might have felt like the basketball gods were just evening the score in 1989 when NBA MVP Magic Johnson suffered a hamstring injury in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Johnson tried to suit up for Game 3 but exited after only five minutes and didn't play in Game 4. The Lakers were swept by the Pistons.
While the Lakers already lost Game 1 in blowout fashion, they were competitive in the following three games, even when Johnson wasn't on the floor. A healthy Johnson might have allowed L.A. to go blow-for-blow with the Pistons a year after taking down Detroit in seven games.
4. Knee injury costs Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks chance to win wide-open West (2003 Western Conference Finals)
With the Lakers winning only 50 games in 2003 after a three-peat, the West was finally wide open again. The Spurs and Mavericks each won 60 games, while the Kings won 59. After Dallas outlasted Sacramento and the Spurs put the final nail in the coffin for the Lakers, an all-Texas blockbuster matchup in the Western Conference Finals was hampered by a Game 3 knee injury to Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki.
Nowitzki missed the remainder of the series after colliding with Manu Ginobili, and Dallas ultimately went down in six games despite starting the series with a statement win on the road.
The Spurs went on to win the NBA Finals over the Nets, who came out of a weaker East, while the Mavericks would have to wait three years before reaching the Finals and eight years until they won their first championship.
3. Jayson Tatum tears Achilles vs. Knicks (2025 Eastern Conference Semifinals)
The Celtics saw the face of their franchise go down in a heap in Game 4 of the 2025 East semifinals when Jayson Tatum suffered an apparent Achilles tear at Madison Square Garden. Tatum led Boston to a championship a season earlier and previously had never missed more than three consecutive games with an injury in his career.
By the time Tatum went down, the Celtics were not especially likely to win the championship. Boston was trailing by three possessions in the closing minutes and was on the verge of going down 3-1 in the series with or without Tatum.
Still, their championship experience could have made a comeback more realistic with Tatum, and the injury carried an even greater impact for the Celtics going forward. Because Achilles tears require several months of recovery, Tatum is expected to miss most of the 2025-26 season, shifting the balance of the NBA after Boston had been the team to beat.
2. Kevin Durant tears Achilles vs. Raptors after return from calf injury (2019 NBA Finals)
A loaded Warriors team closed out its series against the Rockets and swept the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals without Kevin Durant, who suffered a calf injury in a Game 5 win over Houston, but the Raptors presented a much tougher challenge for Golden State in the 2019 NBA Finals.
Toronto went up 3-1 in the series with Durant not quite ready to play, though his return in Game 5 gave the Warriors hope of a comeback against a team that entered as a decisive underdog. Instead, Durant went down with a torn Achilles in his first game back. Replay showed all of the mechanisms of an Achilles tear, and Durant seemed to know immediately what happened. The Warriors overcame a late deficit and extended the series even without Durant, but they dropped Game 6 at home to fall short of a three-peat.
Golden State also lost Klay Thompson to a torn ACL in Game 6, and Durant's injury in Game 5 marked his final moment in a Warriors uniform before signing with the Nets in the offseason.
Durant told ESPN in 2024 that he initially believed he would never be the same player again if he was even able to return to basketball. "That's what I was thinking," he said, "because that's all I was hearing, that this s— is over." Durant, however, said he took the recovery time to learn more about his body and how to take care of it.
1. Derrick Rose tears ACL in playoff opener vs. 76ers (2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals)
In terms of short and long-term implications, it's hard to find any playoff injury more singularly devastating for a franchise than Derrick Rose's ACL tear in Game 1 of the Bulls' first round series against the 76ers in 2012.
A year removed from the youngest MVP season, Rose led the Bulls to the No. 1 seed in the East at 50-16, finishing four games ahead of the Heat and giving Chicago its best chance to win a championship since the Michael Jordan era.
Rose's injury not only derailed the Bulls' run — Philadelphia won the series in six games — but Rose struggled to regain form in the years that followed, suffering a torn meniscus in his opposite knee shortly after his return in 2013 and struggling to get back to full health until the Bulls traded him to the Knicks in 2016.
Because of the injury, Rose will always be one of the NBA's great "what ifs."