Originally Posted by Brandname

That seems to be the mistake in thinking that a lot of people are making.

A finger injury can be a minor injury. But it can also be a very major injury. It's not so easy to assume that it's a minor injury just because fingers are relatively small parts of the body. If there's damage to joints or tendons, it can be very serious and not just a case of "playing through pain". You can cause serious permanent damage that way.

Put it this way: It's very likely that Larry Hughes will never be able to fully extend his finger ever again because of the damage he caused by coming back too early. Now Lebron isn't Larry of course, but that could happen to anyone. These can be pretty serious injuries.