Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports and change the course of every NBA season. However, last season seemed more severe than most — a rash of top players missed considerable time, if not the entire season. It changed the complexion of teams and playoff races (not to mention the tanking).
All those injuries a year ago open the door for some prime comeback stories this season. Here are five players returning from injury who can — and should — change the course of their team, and with that, the league.
Haliburton had a Steve Nash-like impact on the Pacers in the 2024-25 season. It wasn’t just his +14.7 net rating in the playoffs as Indiana made a remarkable run to Game 7 of the NBA Finals, it was the way he lifted up the players around him — Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Obi Toppin, T.J. McConnell and more were just better next to Haliburton. Everything came together perfectly for the Pacers during that postseason run (not totally unlike what happened for the Knicks a year later).
Can Haliburton capture that magic again in a different and deeper Eastern Conference?
Haliburton hasn’t set foot on an NBA court in 15 months after tearing his Achilles in Game 7 of those Finals, and the Pacers fell apart without him last season, winning just 19 games (there was tanking involved). They come back this season with a healthy Haliburton and one other big change: Ivica Zubac at center instead of the stretch five Myles Turner. The Pacers will look different, but Zubac does some things Indiana needs. He sets a massive, solid screen, which will be a pick-and-roll advantage for Haliburton, or he can set it off the ball in a secondary action to free a shooter. He’s got great hands and touch around the rim and makes smart, quick decisions. And he’s a big defensive body in the paint.
However, it all comes back to Haliburton. If he regains the form that lifted the Pacers to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals trips, Indiana has to be considered a contender in the East. It’s all about his bounce-back season.
Maybe Kyrie Irving could have pushed and made his comeback after the All-Star break last season, but with Dallas struggling, it chose to join the ranks of the too-many teams focused on the draft (and the Mavericks ended up with the No. 9 pick and selected Morez Johnson out of Michigan).
Now Irving is back, but to a team very different than the one he was last on the court with. Anthony Davis is off to the nation’s capital, Klay Thompson is in South Beach, and the Mavericks’ focus is Cooper Flagg — he and Irving should thrive together. For however long that lasts.
Numerous teams have their eye on Irving as a player not long for Dallas and very possibly traded before the February deadline. Irving is not on the same timeline as Flagg, and Dallas might be willing to move him for the right package of picks and players. That said, Irving needs to go out for half a season and show his otherworldly handles and All-NBA-level game is back at age 34 coming off a major knee injury. Expect a lot of Irving rumors this season.
Damian Lillard’s return to Portland could be one of the season’s inspiring, heartwarming stories. The greatest Trail Blazer of all time comes home (sorry Bill Walton, the mantle is Lillard’s). The last time we saw him on the court was the 2025 playoffs in a Milwaukee Bucks jersey, an era we will try to repress in our memories like Jordan with the Wizards.
The Trail Blazers team Lillard returns to is coming off a trip to the playoffs, with a solid defense and an offense led by Deni Avdija. How does Lillard, at age 36 and already showing signs that Father Time was catching up before a major injury, fit into this mix? What does he have left in the tank? How does new coach Micah Nori fit Lillard, Avdija, and all the other puzzle pieces together? Speaking of interesting fits in Portland…
Morant is getting a much-needed fresh start in Portland. He’s going to get a golden opportunity, with the ball in his hands next to a future Hall of Famer in Lillard, plus a big he can play off of in Avdija and good role players around him (Jrue Holiday, Toumani Camara, Donovan Clingan and others).
But Morant has a lot to prove. He has to stay healthy — he has played just 79 games over the past three seasons due to injuries and suspensions. That includes missing the end of last season due to a ulnar collateral ligament injury in his left elbow. He needs to show he hasn’t lost a step of his legendary explosiveness (or can make up for it with a more mature, crafty game). He needs to show the motivation and passion that made him a fan favorite are still there. He needs to lift up the team around him. All of it is a lot.
Few teams are going to be more interesting to watch this season than Portland.
It was obvious — in the regular season and especially the playoff series against the Lakers — just how much Houston missed Fred VanVleet last season. They needed a floor general, another scorer and shot creator, and a good defender. Just having VanVleet back should stabilize and improve an offense that was eighth most efficient in the league last season but struggled in the clutch (-8.8 net rating in the regular season, 24th in the league) and in the playoffs. In crunch time, Houston’s halfcourt offense was stagnant and predictable, and in the playoffs it had a dreadful 86.2 offensive rating in the clutch.
VanVleet should change all that. He can set up Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun in places they can thrive (is there a place Durant does not thrive. The same applies to Amen Thompson, who had a lot of shot-creation duties thrust on him last season and grew from it, but shouldn’t have the same load on his shoulders now. Reed Sheppard also could take a step forward this season with VanVleet setting him up.
On paper, Houston is the kind of team that can step up and threaten Oklahoma City and San Antonio this season. If they do, it will show just how much VanVleet means to this roster.
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