NBPA calls for 65-game rule change, citing Cunningham's case - ESPN

Detroit guard Cade Cunningham's eligibility 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' association 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 current agreement between the league and its players — said it, at minimum, wants to see the rule amended.

«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 union said through a spokesperson. «Since its implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota.»

Cunningham has appeared in 61 games this season. He is expected to miss several more games while recovering from a collapsed lung — and if he misses too many, he'll fall short of the 65-game threshold.

«Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season,» Cunningham's agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management, told ESPN's Shams Charania. «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. An exception needs to be made.»

A number of players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season because of the 65-game rule, including the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James — whose 21-year streak of