I never really stopped to really think about it but after taking a look at some clips, I agree with you guys, the stanchion is awfully close to the baseline. Even most high school courts have more room between the hoop and the wall. Though, if I had to play devil's advocate, I'm betting the NBA has figured for years that since there is no wall in their arenas, with just sitting people and a small touch of a stanchion, they probably thought they could afford to not need as much space.
However, there's been a small murmur of uproar in recent years from some players about a lack of space so I'm thinking this injury is going to drive the point home, even though the stanchion may have been a little closer than normal.
With no injury occurring in this manner in NBA history though (ankle getting caught on stanchion, resulting in gruesome break), it's hard for me to say the league should have had the foresight to predict it was going to happen one time over the course of thousands and thousands of games and thus should warranted the entire stanchion system being moved even further back before this injury occurred.
In terms of stability, I am curious how far they'd be able move the base on those stanchions, as I'm sure it'll now be up for consideration.
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