An Outline of Eric Gordon’s Injury History

Published: February 18, 2013

People have labeled Eric Gordon as “injury-prone”, and while this is a fairly well-deserved distinction, his entire injury history has not yet been comprehensively presented.

When making personnel decisions, it is essential to gather all of the facts before reaching a final conclusion. In the case of Eric Gordon, I am not so sure this has been accomplished. Yes, Gordon has missed 142 out of a possible 365 games so far, but apart from the right knee injury that has (directly or indirectly) caused 91 of those 142 missed games, what else has ailed him? More importantly, can we expect those previous injuries to pop up again in the future? Without further adieu, I present to you – Eric Gordon’s detailed injury history.

2008-09 Season (78 out of 82 games)

February 2009 (4 games) – Bruised left shoulder

2009-10 Season (62 out of 82 games)

November 2009 (8 games) – Strained groin

December 2009 (1 game) – Precautionary (hamstring tightness)

January 2010 (3 games) – Sprained left big toe

March 2010 (5 games) – Groin injury

April 2010 (3 games) – Viral infection (final 3 games of the season; Clippers tanking?)

2010-11 Season (56 out of 82 games)

November 2010 (2 games) – Bruised left shoulder

January 2011 (18 games) – Right wrist bone chip fracture (which he played through for 17 minutes after first suffering the injury)

March 2011(6 games) – Re-injury to right wrist

2011-12 Season (9 out of 66 games)

December 2011 (57 games) – Right knee injury

2012-13 Season (18 out of 53 games)

October 2012 (29 games) – Right knee injury

January 2013 (5 games) – Rest (back-to-back games)

February 2013 (1 game) – Sprained right hand (precautionary due to prior wrist injury)

So to break things down, he has missed games because of:

Hamstring tightness (1)
Sprained left big toe (2)
Left shoulder bruise (6)
Precautionary/rest/sickness (10)
Strained groin (13)
Right wrist/hand injury (24)
Right knee injury (86)

The goal of this outline is not to push fans in one way or the other in regards to their opinions regarding Eric Gordon’s future in New Orleans, but merely to make them aware of what has ailed Gordon throughout his 4 1/2 year NBA career.

While it could certainly be argued that the first three listed injuries indicate some fragility, the only three injuries that stand out to me as cause for concern are the bottom three – his groin, right wrist, and right knee. It is pretty clear that the Hornets feel the same way, evidenced by Gordon’s late scratch from the lineup on Wednesday night. The team held him out with an injured hand despite his desire to play simply because it was near his previous right wrist injury.

Personally, I am not against trading Gordon, but I am against doing so before Thursday’s trade deadline, and I think the Hornets share this stance. As Rohan Cruyff from At the Hive mentioned on Friday, barring another major injury, I fail to see how Gordon’s trade value could sink much lower than it stands right now. Given the data above, I think that the approach of assuming he will sustain another devastating injury over the next 29 games is an overly paranoid one. By not playing Gordon in the second game of back-to-backs as well as holding him out of games purely as a precaution, the Hornets are clearly taking the most conservative approach that they can in order to ensure his long-term health. If team management decides that it would prefer to deal Eric Gordon, that is fine, but unless some unexpectedly great offer presents itself in the next 72 hours, I believe that waiting until the summer (at the earliest) is the team’s best option.