The NBA instituted a new player participation policy in the 2023-24 season in order to deter teams from resting their star players and load-managing them to prepare for the playoffs. The policy stated that a player must play in at least 65 games to qualify for awards at the end of the season.
Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid suffered through a meniscus issue in his left knee that forced him to miss two months after a procedure. When he did play, the big fella averaged 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.7 blocks. He was dominant, but only played in 39 games which disqualified him from any awards.
Speaking before Thursday’s NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver addressed the policy as the league now moves forward:
When it comes to injury data, we’re constantly studying it, trying to see if there’s more than correlation and there’s actually causation. Of course, this past season, even though we had the 65-game rule, largely designed to keep star players on the floor, we had a decrease in injury in star players.
I’m not standing here saying one followed from the other. It just may be happenstance for this season. I think we saw injuries, of course, in the Playoffs this year, but nothing that out of range with injuries we’ve seen in the past.
Silver brought up the playoffs due to the injuries suffered by star players such as Jimmy Butler, Donovan Mitchell, Kristaps Porzingis, and others. The policy has its usefulness, but at the same time, Embiid shouldn’t be penalized for awards because an injury forced him to miss time.
That’s something Silver and the Player’s Association are still figuring out:
I will say just based on one season of data, we’re happy with the 65-game rule. There was sort of a parade of horribles that had rolled out, that had been rolled out, that everybody was saying, were threatening were going to happen. Those things didn’t happen.
In terms of not just a reduction in star player injuries this year, but it worked to the extent we saw star players on the floor more. That was the goal.
We have the same incentives, and that is to keep star players on the floor.
It will be interesting to see if there will be any tweaks to the policy as the offseason continues and the 2024-25 season rapidly approaches.
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