Silver: NBA's 65-game rule for player awards 'is working'
NBA commissioner Adam Silver still supports the 65-game requirement for player awards and indicated the league isn't looking to change the rule.
"I'm not ready to (stand) here saying, 'I don't think it's working.' I think it is working," Silver said following a board of governors meeting Wednesday. "I think if you look at the numbers, the pre-implementation of this rule, the numbers were going in the wrong direction."
Beginning with the 2023-24 campaign, the league instituted a 65-game minimum for end-of-season player awards, including MVP and All-NBA teams. The aim was to dissuade teams from "load managing" their biggest stars, which was a growing trend in the wake of the Toronto Raptors' success while balancing Kawhi Leonard's quad and knee concerns during their title-winning 2018-19 campaign.
However, the rule has attracted renewed criticism in recent weeks. Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham was playing in his 61st game of the regular season March 17 when he suffered a collapsed lung five minutes into their matchup against the Washington Wizards. With Cunningham uncertain to return before the end of the regular season, the National Basketball Players Association on Tuesday called for the 65-game awards requirement to be changed, if not outright abolished.
"I'm not ready to say, standing here today, that because there may be a sense of unfairness for one player, that the rule doesn't work," Silver added.
Other MVP hopefuls are also at risk of becoming ineligible, including three-time winner Nikola Jokic and San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama. Jokic must play in eight of the Denver Nuggets' remaining nine contests to hit 65 games, while Wembanyama, who boldly argued his own MVP case Monday, must appear in at least seven of the Spurs' final 10 games.
Though he has slightly more of a buffer, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hasn't secured his eligibility, either; the Oklahoma City Thunder guard is at 60 regular-season games with 10 to play.