The National Basketball Players Association has called for the NBA’s 65-game rule to either be abolished or changed following the potential season-ending injury to Detroit Pistons All-Star guard Cade Cunningham.
The rule requires that NBA players must play in at least 65 regular-season games to remain eligible for certain postseason awards, such as selection for the All-NBA Teams.
Cunningham has participated in 61 games this season while averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists per outing and leading
the Pistons to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. However, with just 11 games left, Cunningham is expected to miss more time as he recovers from a collapsed lung, putting his awards eligibility in jeopardy.
The predicament prompted this statement from the NBPA on Tuesday about the rule:
“Cade Cunningham’s potential ineligibility for postseason awards after a career-defining season is a clear indictment of the 65-game rule and yet another example of why it must be abolished or reformed to create an exception for significant injuries. Since it’s implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota.”
There are additional aspects to the rule other than just the 65-game threshold. By the letter of the law, a “game” means a game in which the player in question logs at least 20 minutes. The player is given a maximum of two additional “games” in which he logs at least 15 minutes but fewer than 20 minutes. Additionally, a player is deemed awards-eligible if he plays in at least 62 regular-season games and then suffers a season-ending injury — if those 62-64 games represented at least 85% of his team’s regular-season games (shoutout to James Herbert of CBS Sports for easily breaking down the specifics/loopholes). That last exemption wouldn’t apply to Cunningham’s case.
With the NBPA now directing pressure toward an already controversial rule, it would appear the days of the 65-game rule are likely numbered — or at least this iteration of it.
