What is the level of medical care on NBA teams

Simply put, the goal of the Suns' medical staff is to try to prevent overuse of one part of the body from jeopardizing the functioning of other parts. If a player's right knee is injured, and he routinely puts more pressure on his left knee, the Suns' medical staff is trying to make sure they heal not just the right knee, but the player's entire body.

The most classic case in this regard is the treatment of "Shark" O'Neal, who was traded to the Sun in February 2008 with a mucus bursitis in his left hip, and suffered a number of injuries. The team's team doctor emphasized that it was due to O'Neal's weight.

Later O'Neal said in his autobiography that the Sun's physical therapist helped him get to the root of his injuries: "All the injuries were traced back to my arthritic big toe. Because it couldn't bend, I started jumping on the ball of my foot, which changed my jumping position and added tremendous stress to the rest of my leg. It was a chain reaction."

The Sun's medical team started O'Neal on core strength, flexibility and balance exercises to get his hip muscles back to normal, and then the myth emerged: In the 2008-2009 season, the 37-year-old Shark played in 75 games -- the last time he was named an All-Star. The last time he was selected as an All-Star.