Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1440472
This article is part of the Research Topic Determinants of Achievement in Top Sport View all articles

Will the COVID-19 Infection Affect the Performance of Top Basketball Players? A Data-Driven Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Changyue Xiong Changyue Xiong Lu Bai Lu Bai *Chenxi Wu Chenxi Wu Yuxin Yan Yuxin Yan Sumeng Chen Sumeng Chen
  • Department of Sports Medicine, Shenzhen Hospital, Peking University, Shenzhen, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: To investigate the changes in the game performance of high-level basketball players in NBA league before and after the COVID-19 infection.Methods: Athletic statistics were collected from official database for 68 players (19 forwards, 29 guards, 20 centers; mean age 27.14 ± 3.65 years) in the NBA league for 10 games before and after infection with COVID-19. We used a the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance to examine the impact caused by COVID-19.Results: Among all 68 players, a statistically significant decrease in plus/minus (Z=-2.392, p=0.017) and free throw shooting (FT% Z=-2.153, p=0.031), occurred compared to the pre-infection with COVID-19. Among the interior players, we found a statistically significant decrease in free throw shooting FT% (Z=2.674, p=0.021), Plus/Minus(Z=-2.371, p=0.018). Among centers and forwards, there was no statistically significant change.The impact of COVID-19 on players' fatigue and cardiorespiratory and muscular endurance may have contributed to the decline in performance, and the impact of detraining due to isolation should not be ignored.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Elite basketball players, performance, return to play, National Basketball Association

    Received: 31 May 2024; Accepted: 21 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xiong, Bai, Wu, Yan and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Lu Bai, Department of Sports Medicine, Shenzhen Hospital, Peking University, Shenzhen, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.