Warriors star latest to call out NBA's 65-game rule

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Warriors' Draymond Green latest to call out NBA's 65-game rule

By Sai Mohan | Last updated 2/1/24

The NBA's new 65-game rule -- which endangers players from missing out on regular season awards and contractual bonuses -- has proven to be a polarizing debate among the NBA community.

While "old heads" such as Magic Johnson have vehemently defended the ruling, reminding their younger counterparts that Michael Jordan played all 82 games in nine different seasons, the current players in the league believe they're being unjustly penalized for no fault of their own.

A day after Tyrese Haliburton turned heads for deeming the rule "stupid," Draymond Green made his feelings perfectly known on "The Draymond Green Show."

"I think it’s [65-game rule] bull--it," Green said. "Guys didn't face those rules before, but those same All-NBA teams, the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year lists -- those lists are the same."

The Warriors star proceeded to say that, during the 2014-15 season, Kawhi Leonard won Defensive Player of the Year over him despite playing in only 64 games. In comparison, Green played 79 games and the Warriors (67-15) finished with the first seed. Green actually received more first-place votes, but Leonard narrowly edged out the Warriors forward 333-317 in the overall points tally. If that scenario were to occur today, Leonard would be disqualified from contention.

Hurt…. Load Management…. Are those words spelled the same? https://t.co/WmadZhfzdu
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) January 31, 2024

Green then implied that MVP front-runner Joel Embiid, in danger of missing the 65-game quota, "forced" himself to play against Golden State Tuesday night despite dealing with a knee injury. During the game, Embiid suffered another knee injury which could potentially eject from the MVP race.

"Maybe it's [the injury] not bad if the knee isn't already banged up," Green said of Embiid. "I don’t really bang with it [the rule]. Now, we got one of our premiere faces of the league, our MVP, possibly hurt for an extended period of time – because he’s forcing it."

While Haliburton can miss only three more games to avoid losing nearly $41M in bonuses, Embiid has a five-game cushion to work with before he's disqualified from the MVP race and All-NBA honors.

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