The NBA Players Association wants the league to abolish a recently implemented rule that could dampen Cade Cunningham’s banner year.
Cunningham was diagnosed with a collapsed lung last week, which he suffered during his Detroit Pistons’ 130-117 win over the Washington Wizards. The lung issue could potentially keep Cunningham sidelined for the rest of the regular season.
Cunningham has played in 61 games this season, posting numbers that made him a dark horse MVP candidate for most of the year. But if he’s unable to suit up anymore until the playoffs, he would fall short of the 65-game quota needed to be eligible for end-of-season awards.
The NBA players’ union is not happy about that possibility and made that known in a strongly worded statement, via NBC Sports’ Kurt Helin.
“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,” the statement read.
“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 NBA agreed to implement the 65-game rule in 2024 to combat rampant load management. The rule was put in place after teams seemingly sat healthy star players for way too many games in the year.
Cunningham’s injury, however, is the furthest thing from a simple case of load management. Despite leading the Pistons to one of their best seasons in franchise history, Cunningham could miss the All-NBA team altogether because of a rule meant to fix a problem he isn’t a part of.
Cade isn’t alone in that either, with stars like Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Victor Wembanyama all missing significant chunks of the season due to legitimate injuries. The NBPA believes the league needs to make a change to avoid robbing its stars of the recognition they deserve.
