Around this time last year, Kyrie Irving was sobbing in his father's arms.
It was August 2014, and the star point guard had just witnessed his Team USA teammate Paul George suffer a horrific leg injury during an intra-squad exhibition in Las Vegas. Some of the world's finest basketball players, including Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis, could be seen covering their mouths with sweat towels, visibly shaken by what they had just seen.
Less than a week later, Durant surprisingly withdrew from the FIBA competition, later admitting in an HBO documentary that the George injury "stripped" away his desire to play in the tournament.
The George injury sparked many questions around the industry about the role of international hoops and its place alongside the NBA. But above all, the graphic mental image of his leg snapping at the stanchion base and the accident's apparent randomness underscored how fragile the human body, and thus, a professional playing career, can be.
One moment, George was on top of the world competing with the planet's best and coming off back-to-back trips to the Eastern Conference Finals. The next, his career was in jeopardy.
That was the beginning of a string of high-profile injuries. Durant, despite pulling out of the competition early, suffered a Jones fracture in his foot two months later. He played just 27 games and the Oklahoma City Thunder missed the playoffs.
George and Durant weren't the only household names that suffered major injuries this past season. Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Jabari Parker, Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade, DeMar DeRozan, Wes Matthews and Brook Lopez all missed at least 15 games due to injury in the regular season. That's largely a who's who in the sport, all seriously hurt at one time or another.
But the injury bug didn't stop there. The postseason was littered with injuries as well. Kevin Love's season ended in the first-round after dislocating his shoulder. John Wall was out for three games with a hand injury. Chris Paul missed two games because of a torn hamstring. All-Star Kyle Korver broke his ankle, ending his postseason run early.
Irving himself wasn't invincible. Almost a year after that Team USA exhibition game, Irving suffered a fractured kneecap in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, ending his season and sidelining him for three to four months.
Is it a coincidence that after all these high-profile injuries, the biggest theme of free agency was players jumping at long-term security rather than taking advantage of the rising cap and cashing in later? Did it spook the players?
Some NBA executives think so.