NBA’s 65-game rule has top players expressing their frustrations

In recent weeks, the NBA’s 65-game rule has impacted the earning potential of the league's brightest stars. Midway through the season, several notable stars were sidelined with injuries and approaching ineligibility. Here’s a list of notable players who’ve missed over 10 games this season: Lauri Markkanen, Bam Adebayo, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Jimmy Bulter, Jamal Murry, Kristaps Porzingis, Kyrie Irving, Evan Mobley, LaMelo Ball, Darius Garland, Zach Lavine, Bradley Beal, Mitchell Robinson, and Marcus Smart. A notable case is the reigning MVP Joel Embiid. The 76ers star is having a career-best season, leading the NBA in scoring with 35.3 points and adding 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. Embiid suffered a lateral meniscus knee injury suffered against the Golden State Warriors on Jan 30. The 76ers recently announced that Embiid has undergone a knee procedure and will be out for at least four weeks. It's evident that Embiid will fall short of the 65-game requirement to earn post-season awards, but the reigning MVP has his sights set on a post-season return.

What is the 65-Game Rule ?

The league's new rule accounts for all players to participate in 65 games for at least 20 minutes to be eligible for major individual awards: Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of The Year, Most Improved, and All-NBA honours. Under this rule, players can miss 20% of games. In addition, there are protections against season-ending injuries (62 games) and bad faith circumstances. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league office put this rule in place to emphasize the importance of its regular season while protecting the paying customers spending money to see their favourite players on the court. In recent years, the era of load management has kept the league's top 25 players missing over 25% of games. The NBA's Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars, stated that the collective efforts of the league, stakeholders, and the NBPA found that 17 games was a good number on the cutoff point on the 65-game requirement.

65-Game Rule Can Cost Tyrese Halliburton $41 Million

The Indiana Pacers star has missed 13 games due to a hamstring injury, and missing four more games would deem Haliburton ineligible for all post-season awards. The two-time all-star is in the final year of his contract, and not meeting the 65-game requirement can cost him a difference of $41 million via his new contract extension. The two-time all-star has been named as a starter for the first time in his career and should receive All-NBA honours if stays healthy.

If so, his five-year contract starts at 30% of the team's salary cap which is around $141 million. Under the NBA’s recent salary cap projections, Haliburton’s next deal would be a five-year $245.3 million if he receives All-NBA honours. If Haliburton is not awarded All-NBA honours due to ineligibility of the 65-game requirement, he will earn $204.5 million. Haliburton expressed his frustrations about the 65-game rule “I think it's a stupid rule, like plenty of the guys in the league, but this is what the owners want, so as players, we gotta do our job and play in 65 games if we're able to”. The bottom line is that Haliburton needs to stay healthy in order to secure the $41 million on the table.

The implications of the 65-game rule have left players a little uneasy . Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors wasted no time in addressing that he is not a fan of the rule. “its quite bulls—”. Green believes that Embiid returned back from his injury because of the 65-game rule, but ultimately forced it resulting in an injury. “I don't really bang with it and now we've got one of our premier faces in this league, the MVP of our league possibly hurt for an extended period of time because he's forcing it.”

But there’s no inclinations of adjusting the 65-game rule. Commissioner Adam Silver and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), will go to market for their upcoming TV Rights deal with an estimated cost of $8 billion. From a business perspective, the league needs cooperation from the players in order to retain high value of the NBA. The premier faces of the league is one of it not the biggest asset for shareholders and partners.

Written by: Hussein Abdullahi