Connor Granlund is a sophomore music education major and writes for The Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
In the past week, Indiana Pacers shooting guard Caris LeVert suffered a stress fracture to his back and Indianapolis Colts All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson is missing time in the third season of his NFL career with an ankle injury.
But, that’s just another week in Injuriana.
Frankly, it’s getting ridiculous. The sheer number of injuries afflicting both the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Pacers over the past five years is almost unrealistic.
Specifically for the Indiana Pacers, it has been a rough couple years. Beginning with former All-Star guard Victor Oladipo’s season ending ruptured quadriceps tendon back in 2019, the team cannot seem to catch a break. Domantas Sabonis’s plantar fasciitis, Jeremy Lamb’s ACL Tear, TJ Warren’s foot stress fracture, Caris LeVert’s kidney surgery, Edmond Sumner’s Achilles Tear and many shorter injury stints from almost every player on the roster have continuously plagued the team for years.
In fact, the last time the Pacers had a clear injury report was Feb. 1 of 2019. At the time of this article being written, that is 977 days straight of the team not being fully healthy, with no sign of letting up soon. This has undoubtedly impacted the team’s success, which has not advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 2014.
The Colts have not fared well either. Starting with Andrew Luck’s slew of leg injuries that resulted in his early retirement from football, the Colts have suffered a long list of injuries leading up into the season. Some notable injuries include Marlon Mack’s ruptured Achilles' tendon, Parris Campbell’s torn MCL and PCL, and TY Hilton’s neck injury.
Even in this season’s Week 4 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, the Colts were missing five of their usual starters. While some of those injuries are only for the short term, these small injury issues can have a major impact on the outcome of weekly games.
The real question is - why? Why do the Indiana sports teams seem to continuously get injured and underachieve? There is no real clear answer to this question, which has proven to be extremely frustrating for fans of these teams. But, that’s just what we have grown accustomed to in Injuriana.
Contact Connor Granlund with comments at crgranlund@bsu.edu or on Twitter @connorgranlund.
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