Bales continued, "This has put too much wear and tear on Shan He's body, so you could say his injury was inevitable."
"And I can say with certainty that if Wang Yi keeps playing this way, continuously pushing the intensity to the limit for all 48 minutes, then Lakers players will keep getting injured."
"After all, there has never been another team in history that maintained maximum intensity for a full 48 minutes."
Pippen and Pierce also made similar remarks.
However, Shaquille O'Neal stepped forward to support Wang Yi. On his show, he said:
"First of all, people like Bales are completely ignoring one premise: before Wang Yi even arrived, the Lakers were already dealing with widespread injuries."
"Think about it. With widespread injuries on the Lakers, there were only seven or eight players who could actually take the court."
"The Lakers had no choice. Those seven or eight players already had to average more than 40 minutes per game."
"Not just on the Lakers—on any other team, if players averaged over 40 minutes per game, they would be highly prone to injuries. The New York Knicks under Thibodeau were an example."
"If you had Bales, Pippen, and Pierce lead this Lakers team, setting aside whether they could achieve Wang Yi's record, when it came to injuries alone, I don't think anyone could have avoided them."
"Because the team was plagued by widespread injuries and only seven or eight players could play, they were naturally more likely to get hurt."
"After they got hurt, the team became even more stretched thin. The remaining players had to play even more minutes at even greater intensity, making them even more likely to get injured. It was a vicious cycle."
"Even if previously injured players recovered and returned to fill the gaps, the