How Do Concussions Affect National Basketball Association Player Performance Measurements?

Abstract

Following a concussion, athletes typically display increased reaction time, compensatory gait mechanics, and altered postural control. Although commonly studied in collegiate athletics, there is a lack in the literature regarding post-concussive effects in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and how they affect player performance outcomes. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if NBA player performance statistics were different 28 days post-concussion compared to their pre-concussion metrics. METHODS: NBA player performance statistics were obtained from a public website for thirty-six NBA players (age = 24.22±5.44 years, years in league = 4.08±3.38 years) who sustained a concussion between 2014 and 2018. Players were excluded if they played less than five games pre-injury, or if they did not return to play within four weeks post-concussion. Performance statistics included both attempted and made field goals, three-pointers, and free throws. Additional performance metrics included total points scored, turnovers, rebounds, gamescore and plus/minus scores. Within-subjects performance metrics were compared from 28-days prior to concussion to 28-days after the date of injury. All variables were normalized by seconds played per game to reduce variability between bench, rotational, and starting players. To compare differences in player performance measures before and after concussion, we utilized paired t-tests with alpha levels set to 0.05. RESULTS:Our analyses produced mostly nonsignificant mean differences between groups (p’s>0.05), however, we found a decrease in mean attempted free throws post-concussion (mean difference: -0.37±0.36 free throws, p=0.042). Although the remainder of the performance metrics did not yield significance, a majority of the variables indicated a negative trend post-concussion. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest player performance is not significantly affected up to 28-days post-concussion as compared to their pre-injury measures. Because we chose to compare 28-days before and after concussion, we potentially missed greater changes in player performance during the acute phase of recovery. Future analyses will stratify these findings by blocking time into seven day series to determine differences throughout typical recovery timelines.