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.