With much being made of the impact on load management in the NBA, the league appears prepared to propose a solution.
The new collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association could contain language requiring award-winners to have played a minimum number of games, according to a Tuesday afternoon report from Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
“The possibility of tethering awards to appearances would not only have an impact on who gets recognized by the league, with its most prestigious honors serving as an incentive structure, but it would also be an attempt by the NBA to solve one of its most nettlesome issues — load management,” Vorkunov wrote. “The league has sought ways to get its best players to play more games in recent years as the practice of limiting time on the court has increased.”
Rest has long been a topic of discussion in NBA circles, but the practice came under increased scrutiny after forward Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors to the NBA title in 2019 despite playing just 60 games in the regular season. In 2022, the first 82-game season since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, only three of the top 10 finishers in the MVP voting—Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Bulls guard DeMar DeRozan—played more than 70 games.
