"The NBA is harder than the NFL, even if it doesn't have the big contact injuries," Elliott said. "NFL games are brutal on the body. At some positions they are head-to-toe bruise, and then they basically rest from high-intensity loading for five or six days."
NBA players, Elliott said, seldom have time for meaningful recovery.
"Dr. Marcus Elliott, who founded P3, a sports science lab headquartered in Santa Barbara, has studied hundreds of athletes from both the NFL and the NBA, and the physical toll each sport takes on its players
NBA pace and intensity has gotten so high. It's so ballistic, with accelerations and change of directions, even the athletes who are best adapted to play the game incur some tissue damage, with muscle soreness generally peaking 24-48 hours out, at which point they can be playing another game after a long flight and crappy sleep. Do this 82 times, plus playoffs ... that's a recipe for injury."