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NBA Weekly: Injury issues pile up, Steph and Kyrie roll back the years

Steph Curry has enjoyed a stellar start to the season
Steph Curry has enjoyed a stellar start to the seasonČTK / AP / Justine Willard / Flashscore

With the return of the NBA, our regular feature, NBA Weekly, is back as we take a look at the key stories and moments from the last seven days in the world's biggest and best basketball league.

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Here are some key stories that our editors picked out from the NBA:

The NBA has been hit with an injury bug... HARD

It has barely been two weeks since the 2026–27 NBA season tipped off, and the league is already being plagued by injuries. Fans have already witnessed numerous players go down across the NBA, and the injury reports just keep growing. On October 28th, 2026, a staggering 79 players were listed on injury reports. That represents roughly 15% of the entire league!

Sadly, the health struggles have already become one of the biggest storylines around the league, and we’re two weeks in. Instead of jaw-dropping performances and unbelievable shots, fans have to read about their superstars being sidelined.

The Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton will miss at least two weeks with a hamstring strain. Same for the Detroit Pistons' Jalen Duren and Ja Morant, but Morant will be re-evaluated after four weeks. The Charlotte Hornets' Kon Knueppel strained his hamstring in pre-season and has yet to return.

The Toronto Raptors' Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss several weeks due to knee swelling, while the Oklahoma City Thunder's Jalen Williams suffered a gruesome-looking broken fibula and dislocated ankle against the Los Angeles Clippers. He is expected to miss the remainder of the 2026–27 campaign. His teammate Cason Wallace also sustained a serious shoulder injury and is expected to be sidelined for several months.

The Sacramento Kings' Ben Simmons tore his Achilles before the season even began, while Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards could miss up to two months after undergoing an arthroscopic knee procedure - the list goes on.

Oklahoma City just received another blow as starter Chet Holmgren is out for 8-10 weeks with a right patellar tendon tear.

The massive wave of injuries is abnormal, and the NBA players are getting absolutely crushed by health problems. Several contenders are already being forced to rethink their rotations, while teams with limited depth could struggle to remain competitive. 

Although injuries are an unavoidable part of professional sports, seeing so many important players sidelined before the season has even reached its first month is a worrying development. The hope is that most of these absences will be relatively short-lived, but the NBA's early-season injury situation is concerning. 

In a world with top-tier training options, recovery tools, and body equipment, the number of injured players should trigger red-light sirens. Have the performance demands simply become too much for one human body? Is 82 regular-season games simply too much?

These are questions the league may need to start taking more seriously. After all, fans want to see the best players competing on the biggest stages, not spending more time in the training room than on the court.

Michaela Trider 

Still elite at 38: Steph Curry powers Warriors’ revival

Four games, four wins - and Stephen Curry at the heart of the revival. The 38-year-old scored 99 points across his three appearances this week, reminding the NBA that he still belongs among its very best. After opening the season with three consecutive defeats, the Golden State Warriors responded with four straight victories to move above .500 at 4-3.

Curry started with a perfect shooting night in Denver, scoring 24 points without missing a shot: 8-for-8 from the field, including three three-pointers, and 5-for-5 from the line in a 134-114 victory. Two nights later, he delivered 44 points, eight rebounds and six assists as Golden State held off Minnesota 119-114. Two different performances, with the same outcome.

But Friday’s meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers provided the week’s standout moment. Facing a red-hot Luka Doncic, who had already scored 52 against Utah earlier in the season, the Warriors fell behind by 25 points. They erased that deficit by halftime before pulling away for a 112-95 win at Chase Center.

Curry finished with 31 points, four rebounds and six assists, draining eight of his 14 three-point attempts and passing Dominique Wilkins for 18th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Doncic scored 37, but Golden State’s bench also made a decisive contribution, outscoring the Lakers’ reserves 50-7.

The Warriors kept their winning streak alive on Sunday, beating the Clippers despite the absence of Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Kristaps Porzingis. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg stepped up with 37 points as Golden State claimed a fourth consecutive victory. After Curry powered the turnaround earlier in the week, the Warriors finished it by showing they could win without him.

Natalie Csurillova

Flagg and Kyrie give Dallas reason to believe again

After a season of pain for the Dallas Mavericks, fans came into the season with renewed optimism. Dusty May took over from Jason Kidd as coach, while Kyrie Irving returned from an 18-month ACL injury layoff.

Pairing a generational talent and last year's Rookie of the Year, Cooper Flagg, with Kyrie was an exciting proposition for the Mavs, although there were naturally expected to be growing pains. This was doubly true considering they had a tough opening schedule.

Yet they have looked pretty impressive in their first six games. After losing two of their first three, they reeled off three straight wins last week, beating the Miami Heat, Thunder, and ending the Houston Rockets' unbeaten start. 

Nineteen-year-old Flagg has been utterly immense, averaging 26.8 points, six rebounds, and 6.6 assists this season on 55.7% shooting. Kyrie has been finding his feet as he recovers from injury, but he and Flagg gave a demonstration of what a dynamic duo they could be against the Rockets.

In a 116-11 victory, Kyrie scored 35 points, and the man 15 years his junior had 33. It had shades of the Doncic and Kyrie duo Mavs fans witnessed two seasons ago that took them to the NBA Finals.

A 4-2 start is better than what most Mavs fans expected. They have reason to believe again. With Flagg and Kyrie leading the way, they can enjoy watching their team again.

Tolga Akdeniz

Darius Acuff Jr. - the Kings’ ray of sunshine?

After almost two weeks of NBA action, there is only one team that hasn’t won a single match: the Kings. This is, unfortunately, to be expected from a franchise that has been struggling for 20 years now, with just one playoff appearance during that time.

Despite a squad that looks relatively strong on paper, led by Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine, it’s all to no avail: no real chance of making the playoffs, no rebuilding, no results. The coming season looks rather bleak, but the first building block of a genuine revival may well have been found in the draft: Darius Acuff Jr.

After just six matches, he has already made his mark on the team’s history: he has become the youngest player to score 30+ points in at least two consecutive matches, erasing a certain Oscar Robertson from the record books!

Nevertheless, this 'revelation' must, of course, be put into perspective, with one statistic in particular. Indeed, Acuff Jr. is quite simply the player taking the most shots in the NBA at the moment, with 24 attempts per match - even ahead of Doncic!

So, while he is currently among the top 10 scorers in the NBA, he is the only one with a field goal percentage below 40% (39.6%). But, of course, he has the full confidence of his franchise, which lets him play as he sees fit. Clearly, Sacramento has no ambitions this season, so the rookie will be able to develop his game and improve his shooting accuracy.

He is also a skilful passer, averaging 6.3 assists per game. He ranks in the top 20 in this category, which suggests a bright future for him as a point guard. But not all promising players go on to become All-Stars. And the outlook is bleak for Sacramento in terms of team performance.

This could, in fact, cost Acuff Jr. the Rookie of the Year award. But above all, it’s what happens next that counts. If he shines in isolation without any team momentum, will he be labelled as another Carmelo Anthony? That would be a fine achievement on an individual level. Except that the Kings franchise, long the laughing stock of the league, will no doubt want more.

Will Darius Acuff Jr. be the man to lead its genuine revival?

Sébastien Gente

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