After missing the entire 2025–26 season, Ben Simmons was finally getting another legitimate crack at redemption with the Sacramento Kings . Honestly, things were looking pretty encouraging: through the preseason, he was averaging 10.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. He was slated to start alongside rookie phenom Darius Acuff Jr., looking fluid in transition, and genuinely looked ready to contribute good NBA minutes again.
Then, just three days before opening night, tragedy struck. Simmons tore his right Achilles during a routine practice on Sunday. Instead of kickstarting the next chapter of his career, he's facing major surgery and another long, grueling rehab. It's a brutal, gut-wrenching turn of events for a guy who has spent years battling physical breakdown and relentless public scrutiny. You just hate to see it after all the work he put in to get back.
Simmons' situation naturally got me reflecting on some of the most painful, soul-crushing injury moments we've witnessed across the league over the past 15 years. We're talking about titles ripped away in an instant, MVP trajectories altered, and absolute superstars breaking down at the worst possible microsecond. Some recovered to reach incredible heights, while others were never the same again.
To rank them, I evaluated a mix of context, stakes, player caliber, and the long-term aftermath of the injury. There were plenty of candidates, but these 10 situations are undoubtedly the toughest to look back on.
By the spring of 2021, the LA Clippers were finally putting it all together. They looked like an absolute monster, and Kawhi Leonard was operating at a vintage, hyper-efficient level.
Through 11 postseason games, Kawhi was putting up staggering numbers: 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.1 steals per contest while posting a ridiculous 57.3% field goal percentage. After battling back from a 2-0 deficit against Dallas in the first round, LA was carving up the top-seeded Utah Jazz, winning Games 3 and 4 to tie the series at two apiece.
Then came the turn late in Game 4. Kawhi landed awkwardly while driving on Joe Ingles and tweaked his right knee. What initially seemed like a routine sprain was later diagnosed as a partial ACL tear. Just like that, his postseason was over, and the injury subsequently wiped out his entire 2021–22 campaign.
The Clippers still fought off Utah to advance to their first-ever Western Conference Finals, but without their engine, they fell to Phoenix in six games. Kawhi was playing some of the most dominant two-way basketball of his life, and Paul George was firing on all cylinders. We will forever be left asking "what if" about LA's 2021 championship odds.
Gordon Hayward's injury didn't happen in the high-stakes pressure cooker of late May or June, but the psychological shockwave it sent through the league was unmatched.
Fresh off an All-Star campaign with Utah, where he averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, Hayward inked a massive four-year, $128 million contract with the Boston Celtics . Combined with the blockbuster trade for Kyrie Irving and the young guns in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Boston possessed the firepower to dethrone LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the East.
Instead, Hayward's Celtics career lasted less than a quarter. Five minutes into opening night in Cleveland, Hayward went up to catch an alley-oop from Irving, collided in mid-air, landed awkwardly, and fractured his left tibia while dislocating his ankle. The gruesome nature of the injury froze the arena and instantly derailed Boston's plans.
Hayward eventually made it back to the floor later in the year, but he was understandably a shell of himself in 2018–19, averaging just 11.5 points while searching for his movement and confidence. To watch a guy spend seven grueling years grinding his way into elite status, sign a dream contract with a title contender, and suffer a life-altering injury six minutes in is simply heartbreaking.
The 2012–13 Oklahoma City Thunder were an absolute powerhouse. Fresh off an NBA Finals appearance the year prior, OKC dominated the regular season, finishing 60-22 to capture the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Kevin Durant was an unstoppable scoring machine (28.1 PTS, 7.9 REB, 4.6 AST), and Russell Westbrook was his explosive, hyper-durable co-star, averaging 23.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 7.4 assists. Most impressively, Russ hadn't missed a single game in his high school, college, or NBA career up to that point. He was indestructible… until Game 2 of their first-round matchup against Houston.
As Westbrook tried to call a timeout, Rockets guard Patrick Beverley lunged across his path to reach for a steal, making hard knee-to-knee contact. Westbrook finished the game out of pure adrenaline, but scans revealed a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee that required immediate surgery.
OKC got past the Rockets in six games, but they were sent home by Memphis in the second round, losing 4-1. Durant tried his absolute best, putting up 28.8 points and 10.4 rebounds against the Grizzlies, but OKC simply lacked the perimeter engine to break down that grindy defense without Westbrook's rim pressure.
At 24 years old, Durant and Westbrook felt destined to rule the decade. Russ eventually won an MVP in 2017, but OKC never made it back to the Finals during the KD-Russ era. That 2013 injury marked the first crack in their eventual fallout.
Tatum was in the middle of an absolute masterpiece in the 2025 postseason, as the Celtics were trying to defend their 2024 championship, anchored by his phenomenal regular season (26.8 PTS, 8.7 REB, 6.0 AST). Down 2-1 to the New York Knicks in a physical, grueling Eastern Conference Semifinals, Game 4 in Madison Square Garden was a mandatory win for Boston.
Tatum answered the call with an iconic performance: 42 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks on 16-of-28 shooting. He was doing everything literally on both ends to keep Boston's title defense alive. Then, with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and Boston trailing by three, Tatum dove for a loose ball in transition, planted his foot, and immediately crumpled to the floor, grabbing his back heel.
It was a torn right Achilles. Boston lost Game 4, fell into a 3-1 hole, and was eliminated two nights later. The image of Tatum laying on the MSG floor after a 42-point effort was devastating.
Remarkably, Tatum pushed through rehab and returned in just 298 days on March 6, 2026, a completely crazy feat. But in the moment, watching a 27-year-old superstar in his absolute athletic prime lose a title defense to a freak non-contact injury was as tough as it gets.
The 2015 NBA Finals was supposed to be the coronation of Cleveland's shiny new Superteam. LeBron had returned home, Kevin Love was brought in from Minnesota, and Kyrie was emerging as one of the most lethal scorers in the world, coming off a season where he averaged 21.7 points and 5.2 assists.
However, the injury bug bit early. Love was already lost for the postseason after dislocating his shoulder in Round 1 against Boston. That left Kyrie and LeBron to handle the load against a 67-win Golden State Warriors squad.
Kyrie was already battling tendinitis in his left knee, but he gritted through 44 unbelievable minutes in Game 1. He posted 23 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 2 iconic blocks, helping force overtime at Oracle Arena.
Then, during the extra frame, Kyrie tried to cut across Steph Curry , slipped, and fractured his left kneecap. He hobbled to the locker room, and Cleveland's offense was stripped down to raw isolation ball.
LeBron posted absurd, heroic averages of 35.8 points, 13.3 rebounds, and 8.8 assists over six games, even helping Cleveland take a 2-1 lead. But without Kyrie to help with scoring and create easy looks, the Cavs eventually ran out of gas against Golden State's depth. Kyrie got his revenge with The Shot in 2016, but 2015 will always feel like a missed opportunity to complete a storybook run.
The 2012-13 "This Is Going To Be Fun" Los Angeles Lakers were a complete train wreck for most of the season. Between bad fits, coaching changes, and lingering injuries to Steve Nash and Dwight Howard, Los Angeles was in serious danger of missing the playoffs entirely.
Enter 34-year-old Kobe Bryant , who responded with one of the most stubborn, heroic stretches of basketball in modern history. Refusing to let the Lakers miss the postseason, he pushed his body well past reasonable physical limits. Over six games in April, Kobe averaged 30.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 7.5 assists while playing an absurd 45.2 minutes per game.
But on April 12 against Golden State, the workload finally caught up to him. Kobe drove to his left, tried to plant, and felt his left Achilles pop. What followed is legendary Mamba Mentality: Kobe stood back up, walked back onto the floor on a torn Achilles, sank two clutch free throws to tie the game, and walked off on his own terms.
The Lakers won the game 118-116 and scraped into the 7th seed, but they were promptly swept by San Antonio in the first round without Kobe. Bryant returned the following year, but the legendary athleticism, burst, and lateral movement were gone forever. Kobe gave everything he had left in the tank to drag that roster into the postseason, and it cost him the twilight of his iconic career.
Before the 2017 Western Conference Finals began, nobody gave the San Antonio Spurs much of a shot against the peak Warriors. Golden State was 8-0 in the postseason, steamrolling opponents with Durant in his debut season for the Dubs.
However, Kawhi was playing the best basketball of his life. He finished 3rd in MVP voting that year (25.5 PTS, 5.8 REB, 3.5 AST, elite perimeter defense) and came into Game 1 in Oakland looking like the absolute best player on the planet.
For two and a half quarters, San Antonio was shockingly destroying Golden State. The Spurs built a staggering 25-point lead, and Kawhi was imposing his will on both ends with 26 points and 8 rebounds.
Then came the infamous mark of the third quarter. Kawhi rose up for a fadeaway jumper in the corner, and Warriors center Zaza Pachulia slid his foot underneath Kawhi's landing zone . Leonard came down on Pachulia's foot, rolling his already sprained left ankle severely.
Kawhi limped off, and the energy completely drained from the building. Golden State mounted a furious comeback, won Game 1 113-111, and comfortably swept the series with Leonard sidelined.
That single play didn't just alter the 2017 playoffs; it fractured the trust between Kawhi and the Spurs organization, setting off a chain reaction that eventually got him traded to Toronto two seasons later.
During the first two rounds of the 2019 playoffs, KD was playing basketball at a level few players have ever reached. He was averaging 34.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.9 assists on near 50/40/90 shooting splits before mild calf strain knocked him out late in the Houston series.
The Warriors rallied to reach the NBA Finals without him, but they quickly fell behind 3-1 to a relentless Toronto Raptors squad. Facing elimination in Game 5, Durant made the courageous decision to return after missing over a month of action.
And early on, he looked magnificent. KD knocked down three triples, scored 11 points in 12 minutes, and gave Golden State an effortless offensive flow that Toronto couldn't solve. Then, early in the second quarter, KD tried to execute a simple crossover against Serge Ibaka. He planted his right foot, felt his Achilles snap, and immediately grabbed his lower leg.
The air went completely out of Scotiabank Arena. KD had pushed his body to return early for his teammates, only to suffer the absolute worst-case scenario.
Golden State somehow gritted out a 1-point win in Game 5, but lost Game 6 and the title. Durant left for Brooklyn that summer, missing the entire 2019–20 season recovering from surgery. While KD amazingly returned better than ever, losing a full year of his prime right at his absolute prime remains a tragedy.
No injury on this list carries a more devastating "what if" regarding a player's career legacy than Chris Paul's hamstring in the 2018 Western Conference Finals.
The 2017–18 Houston Rockets were built specifically to slay the Warriors giant. Houston won 65 games, posted the league's top offensive rating, and featured an unstoppable backcourt pairing of MVP James Harden (30.4 PTS, 8.8 AST) and Chris Paul (18.6 PTS, 7.9 AST).
In the Western Conference Finals, Houston backed up their regular season dominance. After taking Game 4 in Oakland, Houston won a gritty, defensive battle in Game 5, 98-94, to grab a 3-2 series lead. CP3 was magnificent in Game 5, hitting tough off-dribble shots and recording 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals.
With under a minute left, Paul attempted a floater, landed awkwardly, and immediately grabbed his right hamstring. Paul was ruled out for Games 6 and 7, where Houston fell apart offensively without his elite game management, famously missing 27 consecutive three-pointers in Game 7 to drop the series.
Had CP3's hamstring held up for 60 more seconds, he likely wins his first NBA championship and changes his postseason narrative forever.
Just three days after Durant tore his Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 Finals, the Warriors experienced a second heartbreaking blow.
In Game 6 back at Oracle Arena, Klay Thompson was playing one of the greatest games of his postseason career. With Golden State fighting to force a Game 7, Klay had racked up 30 points on 8-of-12 shooting in just 32 minutes, scorching hot from beyond the arc and playing elite defense on Kawhi.
Late in the third quarter, Klay leaked out in transition and went up for a fast-break dunk. Danny Green contested from behind, making minor body contact in the air. Klay landed awkwardly on his left leg, twisting his knee violently. He immediately collapsed in pain, but in true Klay fashion, he hobbled back out from the tunnel to shoot his two free throws to remain eligible to return, sinking both to a huge ovation before limping off.
Scans revealed a torn left ACL. Golden State dropped Game 6, 114-110, handing Toronto the title. To make matters infinitely worse, while preparing for his comeback in November 2020, Klay tore his right Achilles in a pickup game. In the end, Klay missed 941 consecutive days of NBA action. While he returned in 2022 to win a fourth title, losing over two years of an elite two-way wing's prime is a tragedy.
Derrick Rose was in Chicago what Jalen Brunson means to New York back then. At 22 years old, he became the youngest MVP in NBA history in 2011, averaging 25.0 points and 7.7 assists while leading the Bulls to 62 wins.
In the lockout-shortened 2011–12 season, Chicago again captured the No. 1 seed in the East with a 50-16 record. With LeBron and the Heat looming as their ultimate rival, Chicago was positioned to make a serious championship run.
With 1:22 remaining in Game 1 of their first-round matchup against Philadelphia and Chicago comfortably ahead by 12 points, Rose was still in the game when he drove into the lane, gathered for a jump-stop, and instantly went down in agonizing pain.
It was a torn left ACL that would change his career forever , as the Bulls collapsed, losing the series in six games to become just the fifth 1-seed in history to fall to an 8-seed. Rose missed the entire 2012–13 season, and shortly after returning in 2013, he tore his right meniscus, embarking on a painful cycle of knee surgeries that robbed him of a Hall of Fame career.
Rose adapted and carved out an incredible secondary journey as a beloved veteran sixth man, but we were robbed of seeing a generational point guard's absolute peak.
There have been plenty of devastating injuries throughout modern basketball history, but the sheer cruelty and timing of Tyrese Haliburton's torn right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals stands alone at the top.
The 2024–25 Indiana Pacers were the ultimate postseason giant-killer. Driven by Haliburton's historic playmaking and clutch heroics, Indiana knocked off Milwaukee, Cleveland, and New York before pushing the Thunder to a winner-take-all Game 7 in the Finals.
Haliburton's playoff run was defined by iconic, ice-cold moments: a game-winning step-back triple to sink Cleveland, a crazy long-range two to force OT in MSG, and a buzzer-beater to steal Game 1 of the Finals in OKC. He was on the doorstep of delivering Indiana its first-ever NBA title.
Battling a lingering right calf strain, Haliburton suited up for Game 7 on June 22, 2025. He opened the game like a man possessed, draining three of his first four attempts from deep to score 9 early points.
Then, tied 16-16 midway through the first quarter, Haliburton drove right, went to plant his foot, and instantly collapsed to the floor without contact, holding his lower right leg.
Watching Haliburton sob as he was carried off the court by teammates was emotionally brutal. Indiana fought hard, leading at halftime, but without their superstar, they couldn't keep up with OKC in the second half.
The injury knocked Haliburton out for the entire 2025–26 regular season, and a depleted Pacers team plummeted to a 19-63 record in his absence . Haliburton finally made his emotional return during the 2026 preseason (scoring 24 points against OKC on October 13), proving his game is very much intact .
Other legends on this list lost MVP years or prime seasons, but Haliburton lost a championship ring in the first quarter of Game 7 while actively shooting the lights out. For pure heartbreak, timing, and emotional weight, it sits at #1.
