NBA commissioner Adam Silver defends league’s 65-game rule for awards eligibility: ‘The rule is working’

Adam Silver isn’t ready to adjust the NBA’s 65-game rule just yet.

The commissioner, speaking ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and New York Knicks on Wednesday night, defended the rule requiring players to compete in at least 65 games in order to be eligible for end-of-season awards.

The NBA introduced a new rule ahead of the 2023-24 campaign that requires players compete in at least 65 games in a season in order to be eligible for major individual awards, including both MVP honors, All-NBA honors and more. That’s just shy of 80% of games in a regular season.

The idea behind it was to encourage star players to compete in the regular season more often, instead of resting and managing injuries — something that had been a growing problem in the league. According to ESPN , “star players” missed less than 11 games per season during the 1980s and 1990s. That increased to 17.5 games in the 2010s, and up to nearly 24 games per year earlier this decade.

But that rule has drawn criticism and came into question again at the end of the regular season this spring. Both Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić and Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham fell shy of the 65-game requirement due to various injuries. Doncic was dealing with a hamstring injury late in the year and played in 64 regular season games, and Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung. He played in 63 games. Both players appealed to the league and were determined to be eligible for awards, and both ended up earning first-team All-NBA honors.

But Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards , who also appealed the league after playing in just 60 games, was denied. Edwards missed 11 of the last 14 games in the regular season with a knee injury. Edwards averaged a career-high 28.8 points, five rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season. He earned his fourth straight All-Star nod, too.

While the 65-game rule can undoubtedly keep worthy players out of the awards conversations, Silver is very content with it for the time being.

“I’m not ready to support a change yet,” Silver said. “Of course, when we sit down to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the players, we’re happy to talk about it. But I think what gets left out, anywhere we draw the line, there’s always going to be players on the other side of that line.”