“Injuries Are Actually Down”: Adam Silver Silences Disgruntled NBA Stars With Sharp Response Over 65-Game Rule

NBA’s new eligibility criteria to qualify for the regular season awards has been one of the biggest talking points this season. According to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, a player is required to play a minimum of 65 games to stay eligible for the regular season awards. And the superstars are noticing the downside of the 65-game rule from its first season. Most recently, Joel Embiid became ineligible to win his second MVP trophy despite being the frontrunner in the MVP race all year.

That has led many players and fans to openly criticize the new rule for being unfair. However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver silenced the critics during the All-Star Weekend in Indiana. Silver revealed that the NBA has no plans of altering or discontinuing the 65-game rule. He also claimed, “The number of games the players have participated in is up this season, and interestingly enough, injuries are actually down”. Despite the criticism, the 65-game rule has accomplished what it set out to achieve. It has stopped the load management problem in the league.

Adam Silver said that the 65-game rule was put into place after consultation from several parties, including head coaches, general managers, and players. He also revealed that they would need a bigger sample size to consider making any changes to the rule. Silver might look at the rule after the end of this season when they have one year under the belt. That would give the NBA a better understanding of how the 65-game rule has affected the league. As of now, players will have to deal with the new rule at least for this season.

The players might have brought this upon themselves

Apart from Joel Embiid missing the opportunity to become a back-to-back MVP, several other star players might miss out on a huge paycheck because of the 65-game rule. The biggest example is Tyrese Haliburton. The Indiana Pacers star is in the final year of his rookie contract and has a chance to bag $260 million on his 5-year supermax extension. However, he might miss out on over $40 million because of the 65-game rule.

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Haliburton is on pace to play 63 games this season and that could cost him his All-NBA selection. That will lower his contract value as he would not receive the bonus for making an All-NBA team. While it seems unfair, considering how great Haliburton has played this season, the players might have brought this problem upon themselves. Several stars were sitting out games in previous seasons despite being healthy. That caused Adam Silver to take care of the load management problem by issuing new eligibility criteria for the awards. Do you think the NBA should alter the 65-game rule?

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