Maggie Bryant - Integrating Health & Performance Assessments During Player Acquisition

Episode 195: In this episode of the Inform Performance Podcast, Andy McDonald is joined by Maggie Bryant, a residency-trained Sports Physical Therapist who currently serves as Vice President of Medical for the LA Clippers.

Maggie studied Physical Therapy at the University of Minnesota (DPT) before completing her Sports residency training at the University of Southern California. Her career has included positions with the Orlando Magic and Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine, leading to her current leadership role in the NBA.

Maggie’s professional interests include optimizing performance-driven rehab, advancing leadership and communication in medical teams, and refining the biomechanical profile of elite athletes.

Topics Discussed:

• Examination of medical assessments in evaluating NBA recruits

• Analysis of performance metrics and their impact on player selection

• Integration of health data in recruitment decisions

• The role of sports science in player evaluation

• Case studies of successful recruitment strategies in the NBA

Key Points

• A comprehensive medical evaluation for potential athletes incorporates not just injury history, but also a deep analysis of chronic and recurring issues, seeking to understand an individual’s recovery trajectory and identifying any underlying risks that might impact future performance or durability in a professional sport context.

• Multi-disciplinary collaboration between medical, performance, strength and conditioning, and sports science staff ensures that assessments holistically account for not only orthopaedic and soft-tissue risk, but also physiological resilience, movement efficiency, and the interplay of these factors under match-day or training stressors.

• Objective screening protocols for musculoskeletal health are merged with targeted performance diagnostics—such as force plate jumps or isokinetic testing—to reliably flag asymmetries, compensatory strategies, and chronic deficits that could predispose athletes to injury or limit high-level function.

• The integration of functional performance tasks, such as speed, power, and change-of-direction drills, contextualizes raw medical data, allowing the practitioner's eye to discern subtle deficiencies that might not be apparent in isolated clinical examination alone.

• Load capacity and tissue tolerance assessments feature dynamic metrics (e.g., acute:chronic workload ratios) and individualized return-to-play benchmarks, recognizing that athlete readiness is context-sensitive and that robust indicators of resilience must be tailored to position-specific and competition demands.

• Advanced imaging and diagnostics are selectively employed, focusing on actionable insights that clarify the severity and prognosis of pre-existing findings—balancing the risk of overtreatment with the need for clear benchmarks when negotiating contracts or long-term investments.

• Risk stratification models are used to categorize athletes by medical and performance risk, blending quantitative test results with nuanced clinical judgment, so that decision-making regarding signings is supported by both data-driven projections and practitioner expertise.

• Communication pathways are established to ensure that performance and therapy staff are aligned regarding an athlete’s baseline status; this unity minimizes the risk of lapses between clinical assessment, training, and ongoing monitoring once a player is signed.

• The sign-off process considers both longitudinal health and immediate impact, weighing an athlete’s adaptation history, response to previous interventions, and projected contributions against the long-term risk of recurrent or catastrophic injury within the specific team context.

• Ongoing post-signing monitoring bridges the gap between initial evaluation and real-world performance, incorporating wearable technologies, regular re-screenings, and prompt re-assessment of flagged metrics to dynamically adjust care and intervention strategies throughout the season.

Where you can find Maggie:

• LinkedIn
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• Instagram

Sponsors

VALD Performance, makers of the Nordbord, Forceframe, ForeDecks and HumanTrak. VALD Performance systems are built with the high-performance practitioner in mind, translating traditionally lab-based technologies into engaging, quick, easy-to-use tools for daily testing, monitoring and training

Hytro: The world’s leading Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) wearable, designed to accelerate recovery and maximise athletic potential using Hytro BFR for Professional Sport.