The NBA Needs To CHANGE This Rule
The NBA's 65-game rule has been controversial. Luka Doncic, Cade Cunningham, and Victor Wembanyama all had to watch their 65-game minimum closely this season.
Video Transcript
The NBA built a rule to make stars play more.
Instead, it's about to make mediocre players millions.
The 65-game rule is simple: play fewer than 65 games, and you're automatically ineligible for every end-of-season award.
But here's what nobody talks about.
All-NBA selections determine Supermax eligibility.
Make the list, and your team owes you 30 to 35% of the salary cap instead of just 25%.
Tens of millions of dollars just for making the big list.
So when stars get hurt and fall under 65 games, someone else fills their spot, and that someone else just unlocked life-changing money that they may or may not deserve.
This season proved it.
Anthony Edwards, third leading scorer, back-to-back All-NBA, lost eligibility despite his most efficient year ever.
So who fills these NBA spots?
Controversial picks could sneak onto the third team, forcing their teams to potentially owe them 30% of the salary cap instead of 25%, and it gets worse.
Tyrese Haliburton strained his hamstring in 2024 and kept playing through it to hit the 65-game rule.
The next season, he tore his Achilles in the NBA finals.
The rule designed to keep stars healthy is pushing them to play hurt and handing Supermax money to controversial picks in the process.
The league wrote this rule.
They have nobody to blame but themselves.
