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Injury Notes: Doncic, Mavs, Barnes, Poeltl, Beal, Wizards, Harris

December 19th, 2024 at 7:00am CST by Luke Adams

Luka Doncic (left heel contusion) has been ruled out for the Mavericks‘ game vs. the Clippers on Thursday, while Kyrie Irving (right shoulder soreness) is questionable to play, writes Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal (Substack link).

There was some good news on the injury front for Dallas, however, as neither Naji Marshall nor Maxi Kleber is on the injury report for Thursday’s game. Marshall has missed five of the Mavs’ past six games while battling an illness; Kleber was unavailable for the past three due to an illness and a rib injury.

Raptors forward Scottie Barnes was originally expected to miss “several weeks” due to an ankle sprain, but just 10 days after sustaining that injury, he has been upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game against Brooklyn after fully participating in Wednesday’s practice (Twitter links via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca). “I’m so happy that it wasn’t as serious as I thought it was going to be,” Barnes said. In other Raptors injury news, starting center Jakob Poeltl is considered day-to-day with a bilateral groin strain and will miss Thursday’s contest.
After missing the Suns‘ past two games with swelling in his right knee, star guard Bradley Beal “did everything” in practice on Wednesday and the team is “hopeful” he’ll be able to play Thursday against Indiana, according to head coach Mike Budenholzer (story via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Beal has been listed as probable to suit up.
Wizards guards Malcolm Brogdon, Kyshawn George, and Corey Kispert aren’t on the injury report for Thursday’s game vs. Charlotte and should be available to play, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Brogdon has been out since December 5 due to a hamstring strain, while both George and Kispert have been recovering from left ankle sprains since Dec. 3.
Magic guard Gary Harris, who has been unavailable since November 25 due to a left hamstring strain, has been upgraded to questionable for Thursday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, notes Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link). Harris has been averaging 17.2 minutes per game in his first 16 outings of the season before suffering that injury in his 17th appearance.

Warriors Remain Atop 2024 NBA Franchise Valuations

December 18th, 2024 at 1:08pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors remain the NBA’s most valuable team, according to Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico, who unveiled the website’s updated NBA franchise valuations for 2024 on Wednesday.

Badenhausen projects the Warriors’ value at $9.14 billion, making them one of three teams to surpass the $8 billion mark this year. The Knicks have a projected worth of $8.3 billion, while the Lakers come in at $8.07 billion, per Sportico. Only the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys – at $10.3 billion – have a higher valuation than Golden State among North American sports teams, says Badenhausen.

While Sportico’s figures suggest the Warriors, Knicks, and Lakers are worth significantly more than the fourth-place team (the Nets at $5.7 billion), the average value of an NBA franchise is up to $4.6 billion, with no team worth less than $3 billion.

That average has increased by 15% since Sportico released its 2023 valuations last December and has nearly doubled since the site published its first NBA franchise valuations four years ago, when the average was $2.37 billion.

The NBA’s new $77 billion media rights deal and a 15% increase in team sponsorship are among the factors contributing to the rising valuations of the league’s franchises, according to Badenhausen, who notes that a post-COVID boom in concerts and other major events has been good news for team owners who also control their arenas.

NBA team owners operated 10 of the world’s 20 highest-grossing concert venues in 2024, with the Nets’ Barclays Center coming in at No. 1, says Badenhausen. The Nets’ valuation is up 43% this year, per Sportico, easily the largest year-over-year increase among the 30 NBA franchises.

When Forbes put out its NBA franchise valuations in October, it pegged the average value of a team at $4.4 billion. In the past, we’ve used Forbes as our primary source for NBA franchise valuations, but with Badenhausen making the move from Forbes to Sportico in recent years and the outlet establishing itself as a go-to resource for sports business news, we begun highlighting Sportico’s projections as of 2023.

Of course, it’s worth noting that figures from Sportico, Forbes, or any other media outlet are just estimates and often don’t quite match up with the sale prices for franchises that change hands. But these projections are usually in the right ballpark and remain useful for getting a sense of the league’s most and least valuable teams.

Here’s Sportico’s full list of NBA franchise valuations for 2024:

Golden State Warriors: $9.14 billion
New York Knicks: $8.3 billion
Los Angeles Lakers: $8.07 billion
Brooklyn Nets: $5.7 billion
Los Angeles Clippers: $5.68 billion
Boston Celtics: $5.66 billion
Chicago Bulls: $5.56 billion
Miami Heat: $5 billion
Houston Rockets: $4.77 billion
Toronto Raptors: $4.66 billion
Philadelphia 76ers: $4.57 billion
Dallas Mavericks: $4.46 billion
Phoenix Suns: $4.32 billion
Sacramento Kings: $4.11 billion
Atlanta Hawks: $4.07 billion
Denver Nuggets: $4.06 billion
Washington Wizards: $3.98 billion
Cleveland Cavaliers: $3.95 billion
Milwaukee Bucks: $3.91 billion
San Antonio Spurs: $3.79 billion
Indiana Pacers: $3.74 billion
Utah Jazz: $3.67 billion
Portland Trail Blazers: $3.6 billion
Oklahoma City Thunder: $3.55 billion
Orlando Magic: $3.46 billion
Detroit Pistons: $3.45 billion
Charlotte Hornets: $3.39 billion
Minnesota Timberwolves: $3.29 billion
New Orleans Pelicans: $3.09 billion
Memphis Grizzlies: $3.06 billion

As Badenhausen notes, Sportico’s projections are based on a control sale price, rather than limited stake purchases. No NBA franchise saw its majority control change hands in 2024, but that could change in 2025, with control of the Celtics up for sale.

According to Badenhausen, team executives and investors have predicted a sale price ranging from $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion for the Celtics. The final valuation will be determined by a number of factors, including how many bidders are on the mix, what percentage of the team they can buy, and whether current governor Wyc Grousbeck insists on remaining in that role until 2028, which he has indicated is his goal.

The Bucks Players Who Benefited Most From NBA Cup Prize Money

December 18th, 2024 at 7:39am CST by Luke Adams

The Bucks‘ team salary this season is approximately $193MM, which is over the second tax apron and far exceeds the $160.4MM on the Thunder‘s books.

However, only two players on Oklahoma City’s roster are on minimum-salary contracts and just three of 15 Thunder players on standard deals are earning less than $3MM this season. By comparison, Milwaukee has eight players with salaries below $3MM, plus a ninth earning just a hair above $3MM. Seven of those nine players are earning their respective minimums.

While the $514,970 bonus for winning the NBA Cup may be a drop in the bucket for maximum-salary Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, it represents a significant pay raise for the players on the lower two-thirds of Milwaukee’s cap sheet, as well as the players on two-way contracts who will receive bonuses worth $257,485 apiece.

The NBA Cup prize money results in at least a 17% raise for each of the following Bucks players, whose 2024/25 salaries are noted in parentheses:

Players receiving a $514,970 bonus:

Delon Wright ($3,003,427)
Taurean Prince ($2,988,550)
AJ Johnson ($2,795,294)
MarJon Beauchamp ($2,733,720)
Gary Trent Jr. ($2,613,120)
A.J. Green ($2,120,693)
Andre Jackson ($1,891,857)
Chris Livingston ($1,891,857)
Tyler Smith ($1,157,153)

Players receiving a $257,485 bonus:

Liam Robbins ($578,577)
Ryan Rollins ($578,577)
Stanley Umude ($578,577)

The bonuses for Smith and the Bucks’ two-way players represent a raise of roughly 44.5% on their respective base salaries.

None of this prize money will count against the salary cap, so the Bucks’ team salary for cap, tax, and apron purposes remains unchanged, as do the team salaries for Oklahoma City and the other six clubs who made the knockout round of the IST. Their prize money is as follows:

Oklahoma City Thunder: $205,988 per player ($102,994 for two-way players)
Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets: $102,994 per player ($51,497 for two-ways)
Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic: $51,497 per player ($25,749 for two-ways)

Eastern Notes: Middleton, Sheppard, Nesmith, Thompson, Harris

December 17th, 2024 at 5:26pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Khris Middleton is now listed as doubtful to play in the NBA Cup final between the Bucks and Thunder tonight due to an illness, ESPN’s Jamal Collier tweets. Middleton had been listed as probable on Monday. Middleton has only appeared in four games this season after undergoing surgery on both ankles during the offseason.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Pacers guard Ben Sheppard, who has missed the last 14 games with a strained left oblique, participated in a live practice on Tuesday, Dustin Dopirak of the Indianapolis Star reports. Coach Rick Carlisle remains uncertain when Sheppard will return to action, though it could happen soon. “He’s making progress,” Carlisle said. “(He’ll be back) sometime in the not-too-distant future, we hope. He went through some things. He’s been doing some contact work. He’s getting closer and he’s been able to do things without any setbacks to this point. We won’t know about today until tomorrow.” Forward Aaron Nesmith, who has been out since Nov. 1 with a left ankle sprain, is also making progress but has not returned to live action, Dopirak adds.
Pistons second-year forward Ausar Thompson on Monday delivered his finest performance of the season, supplying 19 points, nine rebounds, four steals and a block in 27 minutes during the club’s overtime win against Miami. Thompson, who started in place of injured Tobias Harris, seems to be rounding into form after being medically cleared from a blood clotting issue and making his season debut on Nov. 25. “I thought he was really good on both ends of the floor and I think there’s more to come,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff told Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press.
Magic guard Gary Harris participated in practice Tuesday, according to Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. The veteran guard has missed the last nine games with a left hamstring strain. “We’ll see how he responds, but as of right now just watching him walk off the court he looks OK,” coach Jamahl Mosley said.

And-Ones: NBA Cup, Timma, Trade Candidates, Flagg

December 17th, 2024 at 10:56am CST by Luke Adams

While the NBA Cup figures to be a regular part of the league’s schedule going forward, there will likely still be some tweaks to the format and the schedule in future seasons, according to stories from Joe Vardon of The Athletic and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Managing the schedule for both the knockout round games and the extra regular season contests for teams not in Las Vegas is a challenge, but Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault isn’t thrilled that his team will play a road back-to-back set on Thursday and Friday on the East Coast after its Cup final in Vegas on Tuesday, as Vardon relays.

“We’re basically on a six-day West Coast road trip right now, and our next game coming out of this is three time zones away, four-hour flight to Orlando and then a back-to-back against Miami — which if you look that as a road trip, is an unprecedented road trip,” Daigneault said. “The NBA would never schedule that. They would never put a team a on six-day West Coast road trip, and then fly them east for a back-to-back.”

Besides considering potential scheduling tweaks, the league may explore a new location for the final four of the NBA Cup. According to Vardon, Abu Dhabi’s public investment fund has expressed interest in hosting the event, though that would create more significant scheduling issues. Cities like Mexico City, Nashville, Tampa and San Diego have also inquired about hosting, per Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal.

As for for the format, the NBA and Amazon – which will broadcast the NBA Cup knockout round beginning next season – have discussed possible changes, including possibly moving the tournament later in the regular season, says Bontemps.

Sources who spoke to ESPN cautioned that there’s no guarantee the format will look any different next season, but Bontemps suggests expanding the group-play stage from four games to eight is one idea the NBA may explore, since it would increase the odds of the league’s top teams advancing to the knockout round and create more marquee matchups.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Veteran Latvian forward Janis Timma has been found dead in Moscow, according to a report from the Russian news agency TASS (via Eurohoops), who say that authorities believe it was a suicide. Timma was selected by the Grizzlies with the No. 60 pick of the 2013 draft and had his rights traded to the Magic in 2015 but never signed an NBA contract, having spent most of his career competing in European leagues — in addition to playing in Latvia, Russia, Spain, Greece and Turkey, he also had stints in the G League and in Puerto Rico. Timma won Baltic League and Latvian League titles and was named an All-Star a total of five times in Latvia and Russia.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has published his first “trade board” of the 2024/25 season, identifying 30 of the most notable players who are candidates to be on the move by February 6. Vecenie’s list is headlined by Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine, and Cameron Johnson and includes three or more players apiece from the Bulls, Nets, Hawks, Trail Blazers, Wizards, and Jazz.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link) spoke to NBA executives and scouts about Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, exploring his strengths and weaknesses, what makes him a unique prospect, and why he’s the favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Andrei Kirilenko, Jayson Tatum, Franz Wagner, Aaron Gordon and Grant Hill are some of the current and former NBA players Woo’s sources referenced as comparables for Flagg.“I don’t think he’s a generational guy — I think that word started getting used too frequently,” one executive said. “(But) when you look back at this draft, if he goes at 1, regardless of if other people end up better, nobody is going to say that was a bad pick.”

Wendell Carter Jr. Getting Used To Adjusted Role

December 17th, 2024 at 9:15am CST by Luke Adams

Since returning from a 12-game injury absence on November 27, Magic big man Wendell Carter Jr. has been starting alongside Goga Bitadze and spending more time as a power forward than a center. The adjustment, necessitated by injuries to forwards Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, has been a challenging one for Carter, though he said he thinks he’s getting back to his “old self” after spending a few games feeling like he was “floating” around the court, per Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. “It’s tough. I’m more used to crashing the glass, being around the rim a lot more, being in the pick-and-rolls a lot more,” Carter said. “But being at the four is a little different for me. Sometimes it’s tough because it feels like you’re not doing anything, but guys who watch basketball actually understand that the more you are spaced, the more you give driving lanes for your teammates.”

Tristan da Silva Realizes He Hasn't Played Alongside Paolo Banchero

December 14th, 2024 at 7:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Magic rookie Tristan da Silva has appeared in 23 games and made 16 starts, but he realized at today’s practice that he hasn’t played at the same time as Paolo Banchero, according to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel. The first-round pick wasn’t used much early in the season, and his first real opportunity didn’t come until Banchero was sidelined with a torn oblique. Da Silva said Banchero has been extremely helpful in his adjustment to the NBA. “He’s been very vocal,” Da Silva said. “He brings a lot of energy off the bench, which is really good for us, especially on the road. Every time somebody subs out, he’s right there telling people what he sees and giving his input on the game, which is amazing. Advice like that from a guy like that from the sideline is always good.”

Southeast Notes: Wizards, Rookies, Howard, Jovic, Stevens

December 14th, 2024 at 8:17am CST by Earnest Marshall

Just one year after experiencing the worst season in franchise history (15-67), the Wizards are on pace for just 11 wins this year. At 3-20, they rank 30th in offensive rating and 29th in defensive rating, while their average point differential (-15.9) would be the worst in league history. While the Wizards were expected to lose more than they won this year as they continue to develop their core, it wasn’t supposed to look like this, David Aldridge and Josh Robbins of The Athletic write.

A little more than a year into their multi-stage rebuild, some Wizards officials believe their future franchise cornerstones are still playing in college or high school, according to Aldridge and Robbins. Officials didn’t think the team would start off worse than last season after adding veteran talent like Jonas Valanciunas, Malcolm Brogdon and Saddiq Bey over the summer, but both Brogdon and Kyle Kuzma have missed extensive time due to injuries, while Bey is expected to miss most or all of the season while he recovers from a torn ACL.

“I try to come into seasons with not too much of an expectation, because you just never know how things can go,” Kuzma said. “I probably thought we could struggle, but never to the extent that we are in the present.”

The injuries – along with the departures of some of last season’s rotation fixtures – thrust rookies Alex Sarr, Carlton Carrington and Kyshawn George into the spotlight early and often. While those three have been bright spots, Aldridge and Robbins note that they’ve each still struggled at times.

“We are immersed in a very difficult stretch right now,” general manager Will Dawkins said. “But we remain committed to the long-term sustainability of the organization. Our staff and players have continued to work, and are growing. We will continue to stack the positive developmental gains and, at the end of the season, put proper perspective on the totality of the year. Don’t worry about the whole thing right now; at the end of the year, let’s look up and see what we accomplished. They’re getting better, and they’re still working, and that’s the main thing. What we signed up for is hard, and we know it.”

Head coach Brian Keefe endured a similar situation with the Thunder in 2008/09 as a player development coach. That team opened the season 3-29 before winning 20 of its final 50 games. According to Aldridge and Robbins, Keefe has done a good job teaching the young talent, but the club has to do more to not surrender big runs in games.

“It’s being addressed, I can tell you that,” a team source said. “It’ll look different.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

Getting used to the NBA’s grueling schedule is the biggest adjustment Sarr has had to make in the first part of his young career, Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network writes in a piece reflecting on the progress the Wizards‘ rookies have made so far. Sarr, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, is averaging 10.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in his age-19 season.
Last year’s No. 11 overall pick Jett Howard is continuing to earn more minutes for the Magic while holding his own on the defensive end, Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel writes. Howard is averaging 4.2 points per game in 25 contests this season after making just 18 appearances last year.
After falling out of the rotation in November, the Heat‘s Nikola Jovic worked behind the scenes to regain the trust of the coaching staff, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. He had an impressive night on Thursday, contributing 14 points and four rebounds to help Miami beat Toronto. “If you’re not playing, how do you win the day? At least you have a staff that’s looking and valuing pre-practice, film sessions, practice, shootarounds, walkthroughs and that’s how you can earn trust,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But then you also stay ready, so that when you get your opportunity that you can make the most of it and then you can impact winning.“
After trading Thomas Bryant to the Pacers, the Heat will have two open standard roster spots. They’ll have two weeks after that trade is officially finalized to fill at least one of those openings, and as we outlined on Friday, Dru Smith being converted to a standard deal is one avenue the team may explore. If that occurs, Isaiah Stevens could be a natural replacement for Smith’s two-way spot, suggests Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. Stevens impressed in summer league and the preseason and is averaging 13.8 PPG and a G League-leading 10.8 APG for the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

And-Ones: Top Front Offices, Daniels, NBA Cup, Rookies

December 13th, 2024 at 9:04pm CST by Luke Adams

Sam Presti and the Thunder were voted as the NBA’s best front office by a panel of 40 executives (team presidents, general managers, VPs, and assistant GMs) across the league who were polled by Sam Amick, John Hollinger, and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

As The Athletic’s trio explains, each respondent picked their top five NBA front offices and points were awarded in the same way they are in the MVP vote – 10 points for first place, seven points for second, five points for third, three points for fourth, and one point for fifth – in order to determine the rankings. The only rule was that execs couldn’t vote for their own team.

The Thunder were a runaway winner with 354 points, showing up on 39 of 40 total ballots and earning 29 first-place votes. The Celtics (250 points; nine first-place votes), Heat (114 points), Grizzlies (64 points; one first-place vote), and Timberwolves (54 points; one first-place vote) rounded out the top five.

A total of 21 front offices received at least one vote. The nine who didn’t were the Lakers, Suns, Kings, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Bulls, Pistons, Hornets, and Hawks.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Dash Daniels, the younger brother of Dyson Daniels, has committed to joining the Melbourne United as part of the Australian National Basketball League’s Next Stars program, report Shams Charania and Jonathan Givony of ESPN. The younger Daniels, who is considered one of the top international prospects of the 2026 draft class, is considered a standout defender like his brother, having averaged a tournament-high 3.6 steals per game at this year’s FIBA U17 World Cup.
NBA executive VP of basketball strategy Evan Wasch referred to Las Vegas as a “fantastic home” for the NBA Cup semifinals and final, but indicated this week in a Zoom call that the league isn’t necessarily committed to Vegas as the in-season tournament’s long-term host. “We’re very open to all sorts of different formats for the future,” Wasch said, per Mark Medina of Sportskeeda. “That could mean taking the tournament on the road. It could mean taking it to different markets in the U.S. It could mean exploring international markets. It could mean, for example, having the semifinals in home markets like we have for the quarterfinals to build into the local fandom and exciting arena atmospheres. I would say everything is on the table for the future.”
While most of the top picks in the 2024 draft haven’t come flying out of the gate this fall, there are plenty of second-rounders and undrafted free agents from the ’24 class who are making positive early impressions. John Hollinger of The Athletic highlights several of them, including Jazz forward/center Kyle Filipowski, Suns big man Oso Ighodaro, and Grizzlies wing Jaylen Wells.
The Athletic’s NBA writers identified the biggest need for all 30 teams, with good health coming up for a handful of clubs, including the Sixers, Bucks, and Magic.

Eastern Notes: Knicks/Raptors Dispute, Hornets, Banchero, Holland, Sixers

December 13th, 2024 at 6:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks and Raptors were required to update the court on the status of the arbitration process of their legal dispute on Friday, but agreed in a joint filing that there’s nothing to report, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Post relays.

The Knicks filed a lawsuit in August 2023 alleging that former video coordinator Ikechukwu Azotam illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to his new position with the Raptors and shared them with his new club. The Raptors, referring to the suit as “baseless,” argued that the issue ought to be resolved through the NBA’s arbitration process rather than in court, while the Knicks contended that commissioner Adam Silver wouldn’t be impartial.

A U.S. District Court judge ultimately sided with the Raptors and sent the matter back to the NBA, but with no movement yet toward arbitration, the Knicks didn’t miss the opportunity to fire another shot at Silver.

“We’ve been waiting for any direction from the NBA on next steps in this matter for months — proving our point that the NBA is not capable of appropriately and fairly handling this serious theft of proprietary and confidential files,” an MSG Sports spokesperson said in a statement, per Bondy. “Unfortunately, because of the clear conflict of interest between the Commissioner and the Chairman of the NBA, there has been complete silence from the league.”

We have more from around the Eastern Conference:

Two injured Hornets players have been cleared to return to action on Friday in Chicago, with Miles Bridges (right knee bone bruise) and Tidjane Salaun (left ankle sprain) deemed available, per the team (Twitter link). Bridges, who last played on November 19, has missed Charlotte’s past 10 games, while Salaun has been sidelined since last Thursday.
Magic forward Paolo Banchero stated in mid-November that he hoped to be back to the court by Christmas, but his return from a torn oblique doesn’t appear close, as Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel relays. “He’s doing the same ball-handling, a little light movement on the floor, and then just trying to find ways to get the cardio up without applying too much pressure,” head coach Jamahl Mosley said on Friday. “But again, he’s just slowly moving his way to touching the court.”
Pistons rookie Ron Holland entered Thursday’s game in Boston having averaged 5.6 points per game on .425/.180/.786 shooting through his first 25 NBA games. But with Detroit facing a 25-point deficit on Thursday, Holland got a chance to play the entire fourth quarter and showed glimpses of what he could become, finishing the game with 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting. While most of those points came in garbage time, the Pistons were encouraged by what they saw from the No. 5 overall pick. “It’s still against NBA players,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said, per Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. “Against a team who has a great system on both sides of the ball, and they understand what they’re doing. And it proved that he can be successful versus that. Hopefully, that leads to the confidence that kind of unlocks him a little bit and now he goes and he continues to build off of this.”
Sixers forward Paul George can identify first-hand with what teammate Joel Embiid is going through. After Embiid admitted that his knee issues have been “extremely depressing,” George – who has an extensive injury history of his own – said that dealing with health problems is the “toughest part of the game,” writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “We build ourselves up so much. The media builds us up. The community builds us up,” George said. “Then you face an injury that you know you’re not yourself. You’re not the same, but you are expected to be yourself when you get on that floor. So, mentally, it is tough.”