NBA Injuries

This past week, which has been the first week after the NBA All-Star Weekend, four players have gone down and will be out for an extended period of time. Manu Ginobili of the San Antonio Spurs, Danny Granger of the Indiana Pacers, Kevin Garnett of the defending champion Boston Celtics, and Amare Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns will each miss a good amount of time due to various injuries.

Ginobili is out with a stress reaction to his right shin, and he will be out for two to three weeks. Granger is out for up to three weeks as well with a partial tear of tissue in his right foot. Garnett went down against the Utah Jazz with a knee strain in his right knee and will now miss two to three weeks with that knee strain. Stoudemire was poked in the eye in their game at the Los Angeles Clippers and had eye surgery the next day to repair a partially detached retina, which will force him to miss at least eight weeks.

These injuries are significant in their own ways. For the Spurs, they are trying to stay at their #2 position in the Western Conference and having Ginobili out for that long is going to be bad for the team. They didn't have Ginobili for the first couple of weeks of the season because of offseason ankle surgery and they were just mediocre as Tony Parker was out as well. Granger's injury is not as significant, even though he is arguably their best player, because the Pacers are not really contenders. They are still in reach of that last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but are not expected to do much.

Garnett's injury is huge to the Celtics because they can easily fall to the third spot in the Eastern Conference with the way the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic are playing. Home-court advantage is key, as we saw last season with the Celtics. Stoudamire's inury is probably the biggest because he is their All-Star and the Suns now probably won't make the playoffs because of his absence. They are a dangerous offensive team with him and without him, they will probably encounter droughts during a game that can determine the outcome.

What you think about these injuries? Which one is the most significant? Which one doesn't matter at all?