detroit guard Cade CunninghamEligibility for individual honors such as a spot on the All-NBA team is in some doubt because of the 65-game rule for such awards, and the players’ union said Tuesday that shouldn’t be the case.
The National Basketball Players Association — which, through collective bargaining, agreed to that rule as part of the existing agreement between the league and its players — said, at a minimum, it wants to see the rule amended.
The union said through a spokesperson, “Cade Cunningham’s potential ineligibility for postseason awards after a career-defining season is a clear indictment of the 65-game rule and is another example of why it should be eliminated or reformed to make exceptions 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 harsh quota.”
Cunningham has appeared in 61 games this season. He’s expected to miss several more games while he recovers from a sore lung – and if he misses too many games, he’ll fall short of the 65-game limit.
“Cade has had a first-team All-NBA season,” Cunningham’s agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “If he falls slightly short of an arbitrarily played game threshold due to a legitimate injury, he should not be disqualified from the recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season. The league should be rewarding excellence, not imposing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.”
Many players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season due to the 65-game rule, including Los Angeles Lakers‘ Lebron James – Whose 21-year streak of making the All-NBA team will end. of milwaukee giannis antetokounmpo and the golden state Stephen Curry There are too many games missed to be eligible and too many other players to be eligible – including Denver Nikola Jokic and san antonio Victor VembanyamaBoth are MVP contenders – close to the line of ineligibility.
MVP frontrunner, Oklahoma City Shai Gilgeous-Alexander And the Lakers’ luka doncicHe could still miss a handful of games and still retain his eligibility.
“It’s for the right reasons, but it’s hard,” Cleveland Guard Donovan Mitchell he said in comments published by cleveland.com over the weekend about the 65-game rule. “We get paid to be out there, but there are some things you can’t control. It’s not like guys are resting and missing these games. These are legitimate injuries, so it’s definitely worth looking at because some guys in this scenario shouldn’t have to happen.”
There are a few ways a player can be eligible for awards such as MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defensive Teams, and All-NBA Teams, even if short of the 65-game number. Players who appear in 62 games and suffer a season-ending injury may also be eligible, although this would not apply in Cunningham’s case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
