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In the midst of the MVP race, Jaylen Brown explains his stance on the NBA’s 65-game rule
"You can’t have dudes playing 45, 50 games and winning first-team All-NBA. You basically came to work half the time and got rewarded for it."
The NBA’s 65-game requirement for postseason awards eligibility has the potential to keep some of the league’s biggest names out of contention this season.
It’s a simple concept in a league where load management has become a thing: Players who don’t play in 80 percent of the regular-season games don’t get a shot at the awards.
But there are still questions as to whether or not it’s fair. Take Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, for example. The NBPA recently cited Cunningham’s case in its argument for why the rule should be changed.
Cunningham is a razor-thin margin away from averaging a double-double for the entire season with 24.5 points per game and 9.9 assists per game. He has been the catalyst behind a major turnaround for the Pistons. They won just 14 times in 2024, and they tied the record for the NBA’s longest losing streak by dropping 28 games in a row.
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This season, the Pistons are the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the only team currently in front of the Celtics. But because he suffered a collapsed lung at the end of the season with just 61 games under his belt, there’s a chance Cunningham might not even be considered for the MVP award.
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown gave his opinion on the requirement during a recent live stream on his Twitch channel. He said the 65-game number seemed a little bit too high. He mentioned 62 games as a number closer to his preferences.
But he also said that he believes having a requirement in general is something that the league needed. Ultimately, he’s “not mad” that the NBA settled on 65 games.
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“The contrary is that in the past, guys would be playing 40 or 50 games, and they’d be up for All-NBA teams, and they played half the season,” Brown said. “Their numbers would be better because they only played half the games versus someone who played 70, 68, 72 games.
“That’s a big difference. Because of that is why I feel like it was needed, because you can’t have dudes playing 45, 50 games and winning first-team All-NBA. You basically came to work half the time and got rewarded for it.”
As recently as last week, DraftKings Sportsbook had Cunningham ahead of Brown in the MVP race. By Wednesday afternoon, he had dropped out of the top nine altogether.
Brown currently has the fifth-best odds, and he is expected to play his 65th game Wednesday night against the Thunder. That would make him the first player in the top-five to hit that mark this season.
Current favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s reigning MVP has played 60 games. So has Luka Doncic, who is currently in second. Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic, who are third and fourth respectively, have each played in 57 games.
The Thunder, Lakers, Spurs, and Nuggets all have ten games or less remaining in the regular season schedule. Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic would have to play at least five more games to be eligible. Wembanyama and Jokic would have to play at least eight more.
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The rule applies as well to All-NBA selections, which are also part of the criteria for eligibility for Sueprmax contracts.
While he supports the rule, Brown also acknowledged that popular opinion on it has seemed to shift over time.
“It’s funny because people have once again moved the bar,” Brown said. “At first, when it was around, when it first became a 65-game rule, everyone was in support of it.
“At the time, people were talking about guys who were load managing. There were a lot of complaints about load management. A lot of complaints around guys not playing, superstars not playing. Now, it seems like the popular opinion is it’s time to get rid of the 65.”
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