We can set aside the very real conversation about NBA players being pushed too much physically because of the high-paced, back-and-forth setup for the modern game for another day.
After Minnesota Timberwolves starting shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo tore his Achilles tendon in the team’s Game 4 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, we’re starting to see a weird (but ultimately meaningless) coincidence.
Every NBA player to have torn their Achilles in the playoffs of late, weirdly, wore No. 0 on their jersey. Oh, huh.
That includes Damian Lillard, who tore his Achilles in the first round of last year’s postseason while still a member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Lillard is sitting out the entire 2025-2026 NBA season while he recovers and won’t return until this coming October with the Portland Trail Blazers. That includes Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, who tore his Achilles during a second-round defeat to the New York Celtics. Tatum did not return to the Celtics’ lineup until the following March.
Perhaps the most high-profile of these incidents was Tyrese Haliburton, who famously suffered his torn Achilles during Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. Haliburton also sat out the entire ensuing season and has had scary, unrelated complications like a bout with shingles interrupting his recovery process from the injury.
Now, obviously, we have DiVincenzo joining this group of players with Achilles injuries.
Jersey numbers are ultimately a matter of player preference and mostly for aesthetic purposes for fans. When boiled down, they don’t really mean anything when it comes to basketball or any sport. But it is a little eerie that each of these four gentlemen was wearing No. 0 at one of the lowest points of their respective playing careers. It’s just … unexpected.
As for why we’re seemingly seeing so many more Achilles injuries than usual, I don’t have a concrete answer for that. What I do know is that if a player is experiencing any sort of calf tightness beforehand — like Haliburton was, for example — they are more liable to suffer this devastating injury when they play because they’re pushing their muscles and tendons to overcompensate. It happens.
Here’s hoping we don’t see any more Achilles injuries in the NBA any time soon, because it is truly one of the worst athletic injuries to suffer.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: NBA players to recently tear Achilles have weirdly all worn number 0