Tyrese Haliburton, an All-Star guard for the Indiana Pacers, may lose out on almost $40 million as a result of a provision in the NBA’s most recent collective bargaining agreement.
Players must now play more than 20 minutes in at least 65 regular-season games in order to be eligible for MVP, All-NBA teams, Defensive Player of the Year, or All-Defensive teams, as agreed upon by the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) last spring (or 62 games if they suffered a season-ending injury)
Players’ incomes are impacted by those prizes. If a player was on an All-NBA team the year before or in two of the previous three years, teams are allowed to give them contract extensions worth five percent of the salary cap beyond the standard amount. For example, Ja Morant’s contract is worth $39 million less over the following five seasons due to his inclusion on the All-NBA team the previous season.
With a league-high 11.7 assists per game and an average of 21.9 points, Haliburton has been out for 10 games this year because of a hamstring ailment. Despite playing at an All-NBA level, he has missed 13 games so far this season and has only played 13 minutes in the remaining one. As a result, if he misses more than three games going forward, he will not be eligible for awards. Thus, instead of being worth 30% of the cap, the rookie scale agreement he signed with the Pacers during the offseason would only be worth 25% of it. That makes the difference between $204 million over five years and a total that would be closer to $246 million.
In January, Haliburton told The Athletic, “I think it’s a stupid rule, like plenty of the guys in the league, but this is what the owners want, so as players, we gotta do our job and play in 65 games if we can.”
The league is currently negotiating new media rights agreements because the present ones expire in 2025, which is why the rule was implemented. The NBA is a product seller, and its worth increases when its most marketable players appear in it more regularly.
Though he could be the first, Haliburton won’t be the only player to be affected by the new regulation. Under the current standards, an unprecedented five players—Damian Lillard, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Giannis Antetokounmpo—who were chosen for the 2023 All-NBA teams, would not have been eligible for the honour.
Small injuries are frequent, and certain athletes will inevitably find themselves at or near the threshold each season. In actuality, Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat will have to compete until the very end to reach 65 games. If he wants to be able to sign a supermax extension this summer worth more than $60 million a year, he can only miss six more after missing 11 already.
