The 65-game rule has been in effect since the 2023-24 season and has since then eliminated several players from contention for postseason awards. Cade Cunningham is likely on the verge of becoming its most recent victim.
The rule was introduced with the objective of including player availability as a criterion for the postseason awards, like the MVP, DPOY, or All-NBA team positions.
But the NBPA (NBA Players’ Association) feels it has become counter-productive and is tarnishing the legacies of too many players in the long run. Hence, in their recent statement to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, the NBPA voiced their displeasure with 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 its implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota,” the statement read.
The Pistons’ All-Star was diagnosed with a collapsed left lung last week and has played 61 games this season, of which 60 are counted as eligible games, as he played only three minutes in one game.
During this time, he averaged 24.5 points, 9.9 assists, and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 46.1% from the field and 34.6% from beyond the arc to lead the Pistons to the No. 1 seed in the East.
Even Cunningham’s agent chimed in on the debate after the NBPA released its statement. Jeff Schwartz, Cunningham’s agent from Excel Sports, spoke to ESPN and gave his opinions on the rule as well.
“Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season. If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season.”
“The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context,” said Schwartz as he urged the league that “an exception needs to be made.”
Considering the number of players who have all lost their eligibility for the postseason awards due to this rule, creating an exception midseason for a single player seems a bit unfair to the others. If the league wishes to revisit this rule, it should do so in the offseason.
In my opinion, while it is not right that Cunningham stands at risk of losing out on his potential MVP candidature and a spot on the All-NBA first team, allowing an exception just for the Pistons guard to be included in the race seems more unjust to all the other players who have already lost their eligibility.
The 65-game rule was introduced to disincentivize load management and encourage player participation. There is a lot of room to debate on whether an exception is warranted for serious injuries and what amounts to serious injuries in the first place.
This requires thorough deliberation between teams as well, which requires an offseason meeting between the league office and the front offices, and cannot be a unilateral decision by the league, as it will make it open to scrutiny once again.
This tedious process requires a lot more time than Cunningham has between now and the end of the season. Thus, I feel it is unlikely that we will see an exception for Cunningham,
