3 NBA teams that will be short-handed by injuries at the start of the 2021-22 season

#2 Orlando Magic

Markelle Fultz #20 of the Orlando Magic brings the ball up court against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first half of Game Four during the first round of the playoffs at The Field House at ESPN Wide World Of Sports Complex on August 24, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

The Orlando Magic will have to start the new season without several key players in the squad. Having finished 14th in the NBA Eastern Conference last season, the Magic will need to find a way to do so without key players. Michael Carter-Williams, Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac and Chuma Okeke will all be absent for the start of the season. Meaning they have a hard job to do if they are to perform any better than last season, which was disappointing, to say the least.

Star player and point guard Fultz is out with an ACL injury he picked up earlier in the year and is on his way to recovery. Isaac is also recovering from an ACL injury that kept the Magic power forward out of the entirety of the year. Meanwhile, Carter-Williams is out with an ankle problem, whilst the Magic will be hoping that Okeke shakes off his hip injury and recovers fully in time to make it to the start of their season.

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#3 Golden State Warriors

Injured Willie Cauley-Stein #2 and Klay Thompson #11 sit on the bench during their game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center on October 05, 2019 in San Francisco, California.

The Golden State Warriors need not look deep into memory to remember their crazy love affair with injuries. Famously losing the 2019 NBA championship title as Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant were forced to watch from the bench. They again find themselves in a similar position two years later, this time at the start of the season. With Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman, Johnathan Kuminga and Thompson out, the Warriors continue to contend with injuries on multiple fronts.

Kuminga and Wiggins being available for the start of the 2021-22 NBA season are still questionable. With Wiseman and Thompson still on recovery journeys and the latter out injured for two seasons now, the Warriors will be going into the season short-handed. The Warriors will need some luck if they are to manage anything like the kind of start to their campaign that we have grown accustomed to in recent years.