yahoo - 6/4/2026 4:27:26 AM - GMT (+2 )
Adam Silver is not budging on the 65-game rule. Stars and agents have pushed back since it took effect in the 2023-24 season, tying eligibility for the league’s biggest individual awards to playing in roughly 80% of the regular season. Speaking before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the NBA commissioner said the rule is doing exactly what the league wanted.
“I’m frankly not ready to support a change,” Silver said. “I just take a step back to the situation we were dealing with when we went into the last collective bargaining negotiation and put in place the 65-game rule.”
Silver said roughly a third of All-NBA players in the seasons leading up to the rule did not play in 65 games. The league and the National Basketball Players Association built in exceptions for players who fall short by a game or two.
Two exceptions were granted this season. Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, who missed time around the birth of his child, and Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who suffered a collapsed lung, were both ruled eligible for awards after appeals. Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards applied for an exception and was denied.
“I think the rule is working,” Silver said. “Of course when we sit down to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with the players, we are happy to talk about it.”
Silver did leave one door open. Asked whether the league should announce regular-season award winners at the end of the regular season rather than dribble them out across the playoffs, he said it was worth a look.
"That’s an interesting thought,” Silver said. “So we should look at that. “
The independent investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi Leonard and the now-bankrupt company Aspiration is close to wrapping up, Silver said.
The probe, launched in September, centers on a four-year, $28 million endorsement deal Leonard signed with Aspiration in 2022 through his personal company, KL2 Aspire. Independent journalist Pablo Torre alleged that Leonard did no promotional work for the company, and that the contract was structured so it would void if he left the Clippers.
If proven, the arrangement would amount to salary cap circumvention. Leonard had already signed a four-year, $176 million maximum contract with the Clippers in 2021. Owner Steve Ballmer, separately, had personally invested $50 million in Aspiration around the same time the Clippers entered a $300 million sponsorship deal with the company. League rules bar teams and owners from funneling money to players outside the cap.
Ballmer and the Clippers have denied any wrongdoing. Ballmer has said he was a victim of fraud by Aspiration’s founders and had no role in the Leonard endorsement deal. Aspiration co-founder Joseph Sanberg was sentenced Monday to 14 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two counts of wire fraud in a related case.
Silver said neither the Pulitzer Prize that Torre’s reporting won nor the sentencing should shape the outcome.
“I wouldn’t be doing my job if ultimately I issued a determination based on perception,” Silver said. “My job is to follow the facts.”
The law firm running the investigation, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, will deliver its findings to Silver, who will decide on discipline.
“I think we are close to the point now where I think we need to wrap this up, because you also need finality,” Silver said. “The team has to understand what situation they are going to be operating under and so do the other 29 teams."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Adam Silver on 65-game rule and Kawhi Leonard Aspiration investigation
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