Who, what, where, when and why: Inside the NBL's injury list

• All 165 games of the NBL27 season in one list
• Every NBL27 roster, squad list and projected depth chart
• Every injured NBL player, with expected return dates
• Hammer Time: Who is leading the league in dunks

The NBL's injury list has nearly doubled this season, and the league's oldest players are bearing the brunt, an in-depth investigation by basketball.com.au has revealed.

By Round 6 of NBL27, 32 players had picked up a new injury since Round 1, according to the NBL's own injury list.

At the same point last season, the number was 17. That's about 21 per cent of the players used, up from 11.6 per cent. Over the first six rounds, the list has averaged 16.2 injured players at any one time, up from 8.1 a year ago.

basketball.com.au’s investigation found:

• The older the player, the more likely he's been hurt. Nine of the 15 players aged 34 and over have had a new injury (60 per cent), against nine of 57 aged 25 and under (16 per cent). The rise with age is very unlikely to be chance (about one in 1,100).
• Soft-tissue injuries are an older player's problem. Seven of the 11 calf, hamstring, groin, quad and back injuries we classified are in players aged 30 or over, and none are in players aged 25 or under.
• Most injured players had no real off-season. Of the 31 NBL27 injuries we profiled, 24 are players who had no real break between their last off-season game and NBL27 pre-season. Three had a break, and we couldn't confirm four.
• Even the rested haven't escaped. The three players with a recorded long break, Chris Goulding ($188,900) (38), Matthew Dellavedova ($221,300) (36) and Sunday Dech ($69,000) (32), are all currently out with calf or hamstring injuries.
• Puerto Rico looks bad, but age explains it. Six of the 10 NBL27 players who played in the BSN have since been hurt (60 per cent). That group is older than the league, though, and once you account for age, the result falls within the range of chance.
• The FIBA window isn't the story. Six of the 18 Boomers and Tall Blacks involved in the August World Cup qualifiers have been injured (33 per cent), in line with the league's 29.5 per cent.
• NBL1 keeps players active without an obvious cost. Of 42 NBL27 players who signed with an NBL1 club in 2026, 13 have had a new injury (31 per cent), also in line with the league.

"Travel is a huge element," Sydney Kings coach Brian Goorjian told Code Sports.

"The NFL played here and talked about travel - but that is nothing compared to this (in the NBL).

"Melbourne on Sunday, Perth on Wednesday and then we go to Launceston in Tassie and play Friday."

The seven-time champion and record seven-time Coach of the Year has reason to single out the schedule, despite having the fewest kilometres to cover in NBL27. The Breakers face the longest season at *86,753km – and their players will be Gold Class in no time – more than double Sydney's *38,473km, the lightest load in the league. Cairns (*69,440km) and Perth (*65,398km) are next, and Perth have played seven of their first eight games at home, so almost all of their travel is still to come.

NBL head of operations Vince Crivelli acknowledged a high number of players were on the injured list, but said he did not believe it was at "crisis" levels, Code Sports reported.

NBA veteran Brandon Knight ($277,000) compared the intensity and competitiveness of the NBL to the NBA after the Wildcats beat Melbourne United in Round 6.

"I would say the level of detail and competitiveness, because there aren't as many games," Knight, 34, said.

"It's every possession. We talk about pick-up points - you're picking up full court. When I was in the NBA, I don't know how many times I picked up full court.

"It's no disrespect to the NBA. Great league, but the amount of games and travel can really wear guys down."

Knight's teammate Kristian Doolittle ($317,500), 29, played in Puerto Rico during the NBL off-season, as did Nathan Sobey ($379,600), 36; Tyrell Harrison ($336,100), 27; Sam Waardenburg ($277,500), 27; John Jenkins III ($152,100), 35; and 23-year-old Jaylin Galloway ($196,400). All six have been injured or missed games during NBL27, though Galloway's absence came from off-season shoulder surgery, and it's unclear where and when he was hurt.

Only 30-year-old Jack McVeigh ($349,800), 31-year-old Xavier Cooks ($308,000), 35-year-old Torrey Craig ($290,400) and 27-year-old Kendric Davis ($436,000), the NBL26 Championship Series MVP, have not had a new injury since playing in the BSN.

The Puerto Rico 10’s average age is 30, compared with a league average of 27.2. Players who have stayed fit this season are 26.4 years old on average.

Across the league, many of the injured players never really stopped. Of the 31 NBL27 injuries we profiled, 24 are players with no real break between their last off-season game and NBL27 pre-season, including:

• Majok Deng ($214,500) (Tasmania, 33): played nine Basketball Africa League games at 31.3 minutes in May, then three games for South Sudan in the August window (23, 20 and 29 minutes). That left him under a week before NBL27. He's out until Rounds 8-10 with a lower-leg injury.
• Josh Bannan ($317,500) (Tasmania, 25): played a season in Italy with Trieste, including playoffs, then two Boomers games in July and the Manila window in late August. He then hurt his rib.
• Flynn Cameron ($241,700) (Adelaide, 26): played the NBL26 Grand Final series, NBA Summer League with Portland, NBL1, the Tall Blacks' August squad and the Blitz. That left him zero to three weeks' rest, and he hurt his ankle in the NBL27 opener.
• Shea Ili ($175,300) (Melbourne United, 34): played NBL1 for Sandringham and both Tall Blacks windows (July and August), then hurt his hamstring in his second Blitz game. He had several hamstring injuries last season.
• Kristian Doolittle (Perth, 29): played 30 BSN games in Puerto Rico, 11 for Carolina at 30.3 minutes and 19 for Manati at 35.0 minutes, with his last on June 30. He then averaged 36.2 minutes across six NBL27 games before a foot injury.

As of the NBL's October 25 update, Chris Goulding and Matthew Dellavedova (both calf) are listed for Round 7, Sunday Dech (hamstring) for Round 8, Majok Deng (lower leg) for Rounds 8-10, Jacob Holt ($176,300) (ankle) and Sam McDaniel ($127,600) (lower leg) for Round 10, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr ($318,100) (calf) for Round 11 and Arnas Velicka ($277,000) (lower limb) for Rounds 11-12, with Mason Peatling ($147,700) (foot) out for the season.

How we calculated the Injury List

The season comparison uses the NBL's own injury list, read at the same point in NBL26 and NBL27 from archived snapshots. The age, off-season and group findings use our own count from the basketball.com.au NBL Injury Report: 39 new injuries among 132 rostered players. A new injury is one picked up this season and listed by the NBL or our Injury Report. Carry-overs from last season, retirements, illness, rest and travel are excluded, and each player is counted once. The findings show which players have been hurt more often. Importantly, they do not show what caused the injuries.

*How we calculated travel

So how far does each club actually travel? We count every NBL27 fixture at the venue the league lists, including games in Launceston, Bendigo, Traralgon, Canberra and Hamilton, and we measured the straight-line distance between venues. We assumed teams on back-to-back road trips fly straight from one away city to the next and only head home when their next game is at home or when they have more than seven days before their next road game. This means the Breakers would stay in Australia between games four days or fewer apart and fly home to Auckland when the gap is five days or more. Every club goes home for the FIBA break, and the full season includes the trip home after the final game. Real flight paths run a few per cent longer and connecting flights add more, so the figures are estimates, but they compare like with like.