Steve Kerr’s Golden State Warriors had just beaten the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, but his tone was somber.

“Obviously, we’re all concerned about Steph,” Kerr said, “but it’s part of the game.’

Part of the game. Always has been. Always will be. That doesn’t take away the sting from the game’s best players missing playoff games due to injury.

And the sting has had an impact, from Curry’s injury to Milwaukee guard Damian Lillard’s torn Achilles to Cleveland guard Darius Garland’s sprained left toe – and now Boston forward Jayson Tatum has a lower right leg injury.

It is not uncommon.

Last season, Lillard missed some of the playoffs, and teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo missed all of the playoffs. Boston’s Kristaps Porzingis was in and out of the lineup and didn’t play in the Eastern Conference finals and played in just three games in the NBA Finals. Zion Williamson sustained a hamstring injury in the play-in game and missed the first round, and Kawhi Leonard was available for just two first-round games in 2024. New Yok’s OG Anunoby missed the end of the Indiana series, and Joel Embiid was not close to 100%.

A 2021 ESPN headline: “NBA Finals 2021: How injuries shaped the title run and what it means for the 2022 playoffs.”

As Kerr said, it’s part of the game.

Injuries affecting the 2025 NBA playoffs

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers reduced minutes for key players this season in hopes of being healthy and not overly tired for the playoffs. However, all the best intentions can go awry, and they have for the Cavs. All-Star Darius Garland played in two of four first-round games and missed Games 1-2 against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley missed Game 2 with a sprained left ankle, and De’Andre Hunter, one of the NBA’s best reserves, missed Game 2 with a sprained right thumb.

This is how much a series can tilt because of injuries: The Cavs were without Garland, Mobley and Hunter in Game 2 – a game in which they led 98-81 with 6.3 seconds left in the third quarter and 119-112 with 57.6 seconds left in the fourth. They lost 120-119.

Boston Celtics

The Tatum injury is devastating. Though the Knicks had taken control of the game late in the fourth quarter, Tatum was spectacular with 42 points on 16-for-28 shooting. Down 3-1, the prospect of coming back to win the series without Tatum, an All-Star who is headed for another All-NBA selection this season, seems impossible.

It not only sways the direction of this season, but next season as well as the Celtics ponder a future that includes new owners and a payroll that will approach nearly $500 million, luxury taxes included, in 2025-26.

Big man Kristaps Porzingis has been available but also limited in the playoffs due to lingering effects of a viral infection that forced him in and out of the lineup late in the regular season. In two of the four games against the Knicks in the East semifinals, Porzingis played less than 14 minutes in two games and less than 20 minutes in three of the four.

Jrue Holiday (strained right hamstring) missed the final three games of the first round against Orlando, and while he is no longer on the injury report and has played in all four games against New York, he has scored just 12 points in the past two games.

Boston’s depth has suffered, too, with Sam Hauser’s sprained ankle which has kept him out of Games 2-4.

Golden State Warriors

Just watching the Warriors without Curry in the past three games against Minnesota – all Timberwolves victories – shows how much they need Curry to win a game in the series. They miss his shooting, scoring, playmaking and defense. They miss the Curry aura that makes him one of the best to have ever played in the NBA.

Curry sustained a grade 1 hamstring strain in Game 1 against Minnesota in the West semifinals, and the Warriors are down 3-1. The Timberwolves are good and still might be up in the series even with Curry playing, but the Warriors struggle when he’s not available. There’s a remote chance Curry returns for Game 5 Wednesday, and while it’s plenty to ask of one player, Golden State’s chances to make this a six- or seven-game series depend on Curry.

Golden State’s Jimmy Butler missed Game 3 against Houston in the first round with a pelvic contusion.

Milwaukee Bucks

After missing the final 14 games of the regular season and the first game of the first round against Indiana with deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, Lillard went down with a torn left Achilles tendon against Indiana in Game 4.

The Bucks lost the series in five games, their third consecutive first-round playoff loss.

This is another injury that potentially reshapes the league. Lillard, who could miss all of next season, can become a free agent in the summer of 2026, and All-NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo will consider what his future with the team looks like. The conjecture will dominate NBA transactional discussions through the end of the Finals, through the draft and into free agency.

Denver Nuggets

Michael Porter Jr. is not on Denver’s injury report, but he sprained a joint in his left shoulder against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round and has it wrapped during the West semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

His inability to move that shoulder the way he wants has limited his shooting effectiveness. An 18.2-points a game scorer and 50.4% shooter from the field and 39.5% on 3-pointers during the regular season, Porter is at 8.5 points per game, 31.4% shooting from the field and 31.8% on 3s against the Thunder.

Porter told reporters it’s an injury that can sideline a player for 4-6 weeks.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Thunder swept the Grizzlies in the first round, and Memphis guard Ja Morant exited in the second quarter of Game 3 with a bruised hip. He didn’t return and was ruled out for Game 4.

Pete Rose, the deceased all-time hit king whose gambling on baseball banished him from the game, was posthumously removed from Major League Baseball’s permanently ineligible list by commissioner Rob Manfred, a stunning turn in one of sport’s longest-running dramas that could pave the way for Rose to earn enshrinement in the game’s Hall of Fame.

Manfred issued a sweeping ruling May 13 that declared ‘permanent ineligibility ends upon the passing of the disciplined individual, and Mr. Rose will be removed from the permanently ineligible list.”

Rose, who died on Sept. 30 at 83, passed away with one of his last, great wishes unfulfilled: Entry to baseball’s Hall of Fame. Despite his 4,256 career hits – still a record – and 17 All-Star appearances, Rose’s Hall prospects, once a sure thing, were dashed in 1989 when commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti issued a lifetime ban in an agreement with Rose.

Yet in a letter to Rose’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Lenkov, Manfred determined that ‘a person no longer with us cannot represent a threat to the integrity of the game. Moreover, it is hard to conceive of a penalty that has more deterrent effect than one that lasts a lifetime with no reprieve.’

Relive Pete Rose’s wild baseball career in new book

Manfred’s sweeping action posthumously reinstates 17 players permanently banned, MLB said, including ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson and the seven other members of the Chicago White Sox involved in the 1919 ‘Black Sox’ scandal, which framed the league’s zero tolerance stance covering betting on baseball.

Manfred’s action comes two months after President Donald Trump expressed on social media that he’d issue a full pardon for Rose and that Rose should be eligible for and inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Rose agreed to the ban in return for baseball to not make a formal determination about whether he bet on the game.

Yet voluminous evidence surfaced in special counsel John Dowd’s report that Rose bet on games involving the Cincinnati Reds while he was manager. And after Giamatti’s death just days after striking the agreement with Rose, a succession of commissioners – Fay Vincent, Bud Selig and Manfred – heard multiple pleas from Rose and his lawyers for reinstatement yet held firm on the ban.

Meanwhile, Rose admitted in a 2004 memoir that he had bet on baseball, including Reds games that he managed, but not as a player. In 2015, a notebook surfaced that strongly indicated Rose did, in fact, bet on games as a player.

That same year, Manfred considered but took no action on Rose’s bid for reinstatement, keeping with a hard line from the commissioner’s office that spanned nearly three decades at that point.

Until this year.

Manfred met with Rose’s representatives in January, according to ESPN, and weeks later Trump demanded in a social media post that Rose be reinstated by MLB and granted entry to the Hall of Fame.

In April, Manfred met with Trump at the White House to, according to an MLB statement, ‘discuss issues pertaining to baseball with the president.’

The league does not control the Hall of Fame’s machinations, and the museum largely deferred eligibility concerns back to the league, leaving Rose in a limbo, locked out of the Hall, despite protests from many fans.

Now, the Hall appears ready to welcome Rose, provided he is nominated and elected by a veteran’s committee of electors.

‘The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,’ the museum said in a statement released moments after MLB’s announcement. ‘Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered. The Historical Overview Committee will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee – which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 – to vote on when it meets next in December 2027.’

The notion that dozens of honorees were far from perfect exemplars of character only fueled that outcry, which picked up some steam after the 2018 Supreme Court legalization of sports betting, forcing MLB into a relationship with sports gambling that it heartily embraced.

Now, after nearly four decades, it has rescued one of the game’s darkest figures from limbo, a startling departure from its stance that gambling on the game resulted in permanent punishment.

Cincinnati Reds react to Pete Rose news

‘On behalf of the Reds and our generations of loyal fans, we are thankful for the decision of Commissioner Manfred and Major League Baseball regarding the removal of Pete Rose from the permanently ineligible list,’ the club said in a statement.

‘Pete is one of the greatest players in baseball history, and Reds Country will continue to celebrate him as we always have. We are especially happy for the Rose family to receive this news and what this decision could mean for them and all of Pete’s fans.’

‘Dark day for baseball’ says Bart Giamatti’s son

“It’s a serious dark day for baseball,’ Marcus Giamatti, the 63-year-old son of late former commissioner Bart Giamatti, who permanently suspended Rose in 1989, told USA TODAY Sports.

“For my dad, it was all about defending the integrity of baseball. Now, without integrity, I believe the game of baseball, as we know it, will cease to exist. 

– Bob Nightengale

Mike Schmidt says Pete Rose decision is ‘great day for baseball’

The Philadelphia Phillies released a statement supporting MLB’s decision to remove Rose from the permanently ineligible list.

‘As one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Pete made significant on-field contributions to the Phillies over his five seasons (1979-83) with the club, highlighted by our first World Series title in 1980,’ the Phillies said.

Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt included his own statement: “It’s a great day for baseball as Commissioner Manfred has reinstated Pete Rose, making him eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The ongoing question of whether Pete Rose should or shouldn’t be in the Hall will be answered by a select panel in the next Classic Baseball Era Committee.

“Congratulations to Pete’s family, his teammates, as well as his supporters who have waited many years for this opportunity for consideration.”

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Former MLB legends ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson and Pete Rose shockingly were reinstated by league commissioner Rob Manfred on Tuesday.

Jackson and Rose were two of 17 deceased individuals reinstated by MLB, as Manfred noted MLB’s punishment of banned players ends upon their death.

The move allows for Jackson and Rose (the all-time hits leader) to both be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The two were previously viewed as stains on the game, based on their gambling participation during their playing careers.

Jackson was banned from baseball in 1921, along with seven other Chicago White Sox players, for fixing the 1919 World Series. He ranks fourth in MLB history in batting average (.356).

Here’s everything to know about Jackson, who might be headed to the Hall of Fame over 100 years after his playing career ended:

Who was ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson?

Jackson was an MLB outfielder from 1908-20, but was most known for his time with the White Sox. He won the 1917 World Series with Chicago but was also a part of one of MLB’s most well-known controversies.

Jackson played 12 MLB seasons, primarily in the outfield. He was one of the best contact hitters ever, with a career line of .356/.423/.517. His best seasons came with Cleveland from 1910-15, and he also played for the Philadelphia Athletics (1908-09) and the White Sox (1915-20).

Jackson is also a notable character in the baseball movie ‘Field of Dreams,’ and is depicted by Ray Liotta.

Why was ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson banned?

Jackson, along with seven of his teammates, were banned from MLB after the 1920 season for attempting to fix the 1919 World Series. The players were accused of accepting $5,000 each to purposefully lose the series.

The White Sox players were actually acquitted by a Chicago jury but were banned from MLB anyway by the league’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis. Jackson had 12 hits in the series, a record that wasn’t broken until 1964. He also wasn’t charged with an error.

‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson stats

Here are Jackson’s career stats in 12 MLB seasons:

• Career: 62.2 WAR, 1,772 hits with 54 home runs, 873 runs, 792 RBIs and 202 stolen bases. .356 batting average with .423 on-base percentage and .517 slugging percentage.

Who were the 17 reinstated individuals?

➤ Pete Rose: All-time hits leader was permanently banned in 1989.

➤ Black Sox: Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were permanently suspended by commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1921 for conspiring with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Those players were pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, outfielder Happy Felsch, first baseman Chick Gandil, shortstop Swede Risberg, third baseman Buck Weaver, utility infielder Fred McMullin, and ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.

➤ Joe Gedeon: A member of the St. Louis Browns at the time of the Black Sox scandal, Gedeon was present during meetings between gamblers and the aforementioned White Sox players.

➤ Gene Paulette: Once the Black Sox scandal ruling was made by Landis, Paulette was retroactively suspended permanently from the game for allegedly receiving gifts from gamblers to throw games while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies.

➤ Benny Kauff: Banned by Landis, despite being acquitted by a jury, for allegedly stealing a car. It seems Landis, a former judge, had made up his mind — despite the jury’s decision — that Kauff was guilty.

➤ Lee Magee: Magee and the notorious Hal Chase — who was a fine baseball player in his own right, but also had a reputation for allegedly conspiring with gamblers — were accused of throwing a game while Magee’s Chicago Cubs played Chase’s Philadelphia Phillies. It should be noted that Chase was not among the 17 individuals reinstated by Manfred.

➤ Phil Douglas: Landis permanently suspended Douglas for writing a letter offering to desert his New York Giants — due to quarrels with feisty manager John McGraw — and hurt his team’s pennant-winning chances in 1922.

➤ Jimmy O’Connell: While playing for the Giants in 1924, O’Connell offered an opposing player $500 to throw games in order to help his Giants win the pennant.

➤ Cozy Dolan: Dolan was a coach on O’Connell’s Giants and also was suspended as part of O’Connell’s attempt to bribe a Phillies player to throw games.

➤ William Cox: Cox’s tenure as owner of the Phillies was brief. After buying the team in March 1943, Cox was indefinitely suspended by Landis in November 1943 for placing bets on his own team.

Pete Rose is, somewhat stunningly, off Major League Baseball’s permanently ineligible list.

But that doesn’t mean he’s automatically in the Hall of Fame.

Casual baseball fans often equated Rose’s ban from baseball – which lasted past his September 2024 death until commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated him Tuesday following pressure from President Donald Trump – with a banishment from Cooperstown’s shrine. But reinstatement doesn’t ensure enshrinement.

Certainly, Hall of Fame officials deferred to MLB with regards to Rose’s eligibility, a procedural choice that kept their hands out of the Rose quagmire for decades. Yet with Rose now eligible, when might fans unbothered by Rose’s many indiscretions see the slap-hitting scourge have his day in Cooperstown?

When will Pete Rose come up for Hall of Fame election?

Per Hall regulations, Rose’s candidacy won’t come up for a couple of years. As a player whose greatest contributions to the game came before 1980, he’ll be under consideration by the 12-person Classic Baseball Committee, a group that also considers candidates from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro League stars. The group will next vote in December 2027 for induction in July 2028.

While Rose broke Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record in 1985, he played 17 of his 24 seasons before 1980, amassing 3,372 of his 4,256 hits in that span. That puts him in the same bucket as players like Dave Parker, who debuted 10 years after Rose in 1973 and played until 1991, and was elected by the Classic Baseball Committee for enshrinement in July.

How will Rose get on the ballot?

The 2027 ballot for the Classic Baseball Era Committee will be determined by the Historical Overview Committee, a group of 10 baseball historians appointed by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. That group includes eight current or former baseball writers, a university professor and a statistician.

Last year, the committee included Parker, fellow electee Dick Allen, Tommy John, Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris and Luis Tiant on the Classic Baseball ballot.

Who will vote on Rose’s candidacy?

Should the committee include Rose in the group of eight Classic Era finalists, his candidacy will be voted on by a 16-member electorate. In 2024, that group was comprised of Hall of Famers Paul Molitor, Joe Torre, Lee Smith, Tony Perez, Eddie Murray and Ozzie Smith, along with Angels owner Arte Moreno, four other baseball executives and five baseball writers and historians.

The committee was chaired by Hall of Fame chairman of the board Jane Forbes Clark.

Clark and the Hall managed to keep a distance from the emotional Rose issue, deferring over the decades to whomever sat in the commissioner’s chair. In a statement Tuesday, Clark said the Hall is prepared to consider Rose’s case.

‘The National Baseball Hall of Fame has always maintained that anyone removed from Baseball’s permanently ineligible list will become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration,’ she said. ‘Major League Baseball’s decision to remove deceased individuals from the permanently ineligible list will allow for the Hall of Fame candidacy of such individuals to now be considered. The Historical Overview Committee will develop the ballot of eight names for the Classic Baseball Era Committee – which evaluates candidates who made their greatest impact on the game prior to 1980 – to vote on when it meets next in December 2027.’

Would Rose’s election be a slam dunk?

Not necessarily.

Just like with Hall of Fame voting done by hundreds of BBWAA members, Rose would need to garner support on 75% of ballots, or 12 of 16 committee members.

In what will surely become an ongoing measuring stick of perceived moral turpitude, all-time home run king Barry Bonds failed to reach that plateau in his first year under Contemporary Era Committee review in 2022.

Bonds received less than four votes, the Hall announced, meeting the same fate as Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro, two other players closely tied to performance-enhancing drug use.

While Rose is the game’s all-time hits king, Bonds is the objectively superior player, amassing 162.8 career WAR to Rose’s 79.6. Bonds still holds a significant advantage if his years before well-documented ties to PEDs began: From 1986 through 1998, he produced 99.9 WAR.

That means future committees will face the same ethical quandary BBWAA voters did in the decade Bonds, Clemens and others were on the Hall ballot: Is gambling on games you managed – and, likely, played in – a disqualifying violation?

For decades, MLB commissioners upholding Rose’s permanent ban made that a non-issue. In coming years, it will be in the hands of 16 electors.