AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Now, Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray got injured before the playoffs began, tearing his ACL on April 12 against the Golden State Warriors which ended his season, but Murray absence from the postseason certainly steered the Nuggets ship in a different direction.

Before the injury, Murray was averaging a career-high 21.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game while shooting a career-high from the field (47.7%) and from downtown (40.8%). And as we all remember, Murray had a coming out party last year in the bubble as he helped lead the Nuggets back from two 1-3 deficits to the Western Conference Finals before ultimately losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Without Murray, the Nuggets had a guard rotation of Facundo Campazzo, Austin Rivers, Monte Morris, and Markus Howard which though they got past the Portland Trail Blazers, couldn’t keep up with Chris Paul and Devin Booker in the second round.

We’ll never know just how far this Nuggets team could have gone this postseason with a healthy Jamal Murray.

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The Utah Jazz had an amazing regular season. The Jazz had the top record in the league at 52-20 and scored the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But near the end of the second half of the season, the Jazz were hit with the injury bug as All-Star guards Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell missed significant time.

Due to his high-ankle sprain, Mitchell ended up missing just one playoff game, which was the first game of the first round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. But for Conley, it was quite the opposite. Conley played all five games of the Memphis series, averaging 17.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 8.6 assists but re-injured his hamstring in Game 5, which caused him to miss nine games at the end of the regular season, and forced him to miss the first five games of the second round series against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Conley returned in Game 6, a win-or-go home situation for the Jazz, who lost Game 3-5 after winning the first two games of the series. But his return to the lineup was to no good, as Conley’s hamstring was clearly not right, scoring only five points.

With a healthy Conley alongside Mitchell. you have to wonder if the Jazz sneak past the Clippers.

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

Unlike with Murray and Conley, Kawhi Leonard’s injury is still being felt by the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers have had themselves the most interesting playoff run of any team thus far, going down 0-2 in every series, yet bouncing back against Dallas in 7 games and against Utah in the second round, winning four-straight games to take the series.

But in the WCF, they find themselves down 2-1 to the Phoenix Suns with all three games played without their superstar, Kawhi Leonard.

Leonard injured his knee in Game 4 of the second round against the Jazz and has yet to play since. And yet, Paul George and company have rallied and have a chance to knock off the Suns and advance to the franchise’s first NBA Finals appearance.

With all that said, overcoming the Suns and certainly raising the Larry O’Brien trophy will be a daunting task if Leonard doesn’t return to the floor.

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With their three-headed monster of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, the Brooklyn Nets were a popular pick to win the championship this season. And yet, here we are during the Conference Finals and the Nets are sitting at home.

Why is that? Injuries.

The Nets came into the playoffs with James Harden coming back from a right hamstring strain which caused him to miss 19 games. Though he looked fresh in the first round against Boston, Harden tweaked the hamstring in the opening minute of Game 1 against Milwaukee, causing him to miss the remainder of the game and Game 2-4.

When Harden returned in Game 5, it was evident that he wasn’t right and campaigned to play being that Kyrie Irving suffered an ankle sprain in Game 4. Irving was unable to return to the series, leaving the load on Kevin Durant’s shoulders, which he fell, let’s just say, a toe short from leading the Nets to the Eastern Conference Finals.

With a healthy Harden and Irving, it’s easy to imagine the Nets coasting their way to the Finals.

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Never mind the playoffs, the reigning champs were riddled by injuries throughout the regular season with LeBron James and Anthony Davis missing a combined 63 games. 

63 games.

Those 63 missed games forced the Lakers down the Western Conference standings into the play-in tournament and ultimately, the 7-seed in the playoffs to take on the Phoenix Suns.

LeBron James was still laboring from his high-ankle sprain, which he tweaked just days before the play-in tournament. And yet, the Lakers looked like contenders through the first three games of the series, going up 2-1 against the Suns.

But, a groin injury to Anthony Davis in Game 4 forced him out for the remainder of the game and out for Game 5, helping the Suns take the series lead, 3-2.

Davis attempted to play in a dire Game 6 for the Lakers but within minutes of tip-off, it was clear that Davis could not move on due to the groin injury and was forced to leave the game, putting the hopes and dreams of the injury-riddled Lakers on the back of James and his tender ankle.

Despite being the 7-seed, the Lakers went in to the playoffs as betting favorites to repeat as champions but the injury bug has other plans.