Draymond Green Lashes Out at the NBA for Screwing Joel Embiid and Tyrese Haliburton While Calling Out Stephen A. Smith’s Dubious Take

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ big man Joel Embiid‘s meniscus injury has required him to undergo surgery which will put him out of the games indefinitely. The league’s leading scorer was touted to be at the forefront of winning a back-to-back MVP title. However, he has already missed 14 games so far. This means that he will be out of the MVP run if he misses three more games.

This results from the NBA’s new rule requiring players to participate in at least 65 out of the 82 regular season games to be eligible for any end-of-season titles. In the same boat is the Pacers‘ star guard Tyrese Haliburton who has already missed 13 games. In light of this, Draymond Green criticizes the NBA for denying a player a title because the rule—which was intended for load-managing players—is now affecting players like Embiid and Haliburton who are actually injured.

Embiid and Haliburton are paying for others’ mistakes

In addition to calling out the league, Draymond puts NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith under fire for siding with the NBA’s rule. Referring to the Embiid and Haliburton situation, Dray’s message to Stephen A. is that “There’s guys that’s actually hurt,” but they are “being punished by a rule that’s aimed at stopping guys from sitting when they’re healthy.” A frustrated Dray takes a swing at the NBA and says they should be able to figure out when a player is rightfully hurt and when a player is low managing because it is not fair.

He adds that this rule has given rise to “unintentional consequences,” meaning that Embiid is now “screwed” because he will lose a consecutive MVP title and Haliburton is only a few games away from not making it to the All-NBA. All because the league wanted to target players who wanted to play safe by sitting out even when healthy. Unfortunately, Haliburton has more reasons to be unhappy with this rule as it could negatively affect him.

Haliburton stands to lose millions in contract

The 23-year-old star guard is qualified for a maximum contract extension this summer. The range of this size is a staggering $205.9M- $260M. He needs to win Defensive Player of the Year, MVP, or be selected to an All-NBA team to be able to pocket the highest amount. Having already missed multiple games, the gates of that opportunity are closing.

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Under these circumstances, he called out the rule as “stupid“, but with no other option than to adhere to it, he says, “As players, we gotta do our job and play in 65 games if we’re able to. So, that’s what I gotta do, take care of my body to be able to play in those games.” Having already missed 13 games, Haliburton has only four more to spare. Otherwise, he will also have to bid adieu to any title and a maximum contract amount.

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Do you think the 82-game rule is a fair rule for every player in the league? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!