INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended the league's rule that players must play 65 games to earn prestigious, sometimes lucrative awards.
“I’m not willing to say it’s not working so far,” Silver said Saturday during his annual NBA All-Star Weekend press conference. “I can tell you the number of games players have taken part in has increased this season and interestingly enough injuries have actually gone down.
“I don’t know whether this is meaningful data. I think the right time to take a closer look at this rule is at the end of the season when we have at least a year under our belt.”
This is the first NBA season in which players can miss just 17 games and still be considered for awards such as Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and selection to the All-NBA teams. Reigning MVP Joel Embiid is already ineligible to win the award this season due to various minor injuries and subsequent surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
Tyrese Haliburton, this year's hometown All-Star, is battling a nagging hamstring injury and staying on the court long enough to make an All-NBA team, upgrading his $205 million contract with the Indiana Pacers would increase $245 million.
Silver said Saturday that the 65-game rule, agreed to by the players' union, was put in place because “we needed to encourage players, especially star players, to play more games.”
This season, 16 of the NBA's top 20 scorers (basically the top players) and 35 of the top 50 players have played in at least 45 games by the All-Star break, a significantly higher number than last season.
According to a league official, there has been a 25 percent decrease in games missed by star players due to injury this season compared to last season. For all starters, there was an 18 percent decrease in games missed due to injury.
Silver, who made his remarks in the Indianapolis Colts' locker room at Lucas Oil Stadium, site of Saturday night's All-Star festivities, also said he was “pleased with the state” of the NBA game, referring to the historical level The scoring takes place every evening in the games.
The league's top-rated offense, owned by the Pacers, is averaging nearly 124 points per game, and the league average is 115.6 points per game – its highest since 1970. Four players have scored 70 points in each of the last two seasons Game.
“I want to refute any notion that the league or the league office necessarily thinks that high-scoring games are good in the abstract,” Silver said. “I think what we want are competitive games. …The skill is second to none.
“Every player in every position must be able to shoot the ball. … You see this global pool of talent coming into the league (with) some of the best athletes in the world that can, quite frankly, put out the lights. I think that’s partly why the score was higher.”
Silver talks to referees about player problems
Silver also addressed the increasingly contentious relationship between the league's players and coaches and the referees.
Outbursts have been common this season, but none drew more attention than Serbian-born two-time MVP Nikola Jokić, who was sent off in the second quarter at Serbian Heritage Night in Chicago on Dec. 12. League sources later confirmed that the Denver Nuggets star was ejected for referring to the official Mousa Dagher as “Motherf–,” but the challenging optics of the whole thing sparked another round of discussion about what the game should be called.
“The communication issues between players and officials are kind of problematic – I think that's an area where we should do a better job in both directions,” Silver said. “I put it, as you said, in the category of respect for the game.”
“I'm really encouraged to have Andre Iguodala (the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association) as a partner to talk about these issues because he's not just a former player who played in the league for 19 years and multiple championships won “He understands the pressure,” Silver continued. “He understands the problem.
“I think there is also a real willingness among those responsible to do better. I think that's a real focus area for us to work on. … There just has to be mutual respect. I understand the frustration and believe this is an area where we can make progress.”
Future of G League Ignite
Silver also said the NBA is “in the process of reevaluating” its G League Ignite franchise, the minor league team created by the league for teenagers coming out of high school who didn't want to play in college . After a successful first season, the Ignite has seen regression in the last two seasons as new college rules allow athletes to get paid to play for their schools.
Silver said his focus now is on the early development of American players, noting that 30 percent of NBA players come from outside the United States.
“It is clear that development in many of these programs outside the United States is very different and focuses more on training and less on games, which seems to be the opposite of many youth programs in the United States,” Silver said. “We have begun discussions with the NCAA. … There's no question that the best American players come into the league incredibly talented, but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll become team basketball players.”
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