[Inside the NBA] Charles Barkley on the 65-game rule: “Y’all vote in the collective bargaining, and now you want to complain. If Y’all wasn’t sitting on your ass half the time sipping margaritas and stuff, they wouldn’t put the 65 games in there…”
He’s right about the collective agreement though. People keep blaming CJ despite him only being the players rep. All these rules were voted on by the players.
He’s right because 65 nights a year of 2 and a half hour games for millions of dollars isn’t asking much.
The average miles per game ran by each team in 2014⁄15 was 16.83. In 2024⁄25, that was 18.35. Over the course of 82 games, that’s an extra 124.6 miles (almost 5x full marathons more) on their body and that doesn’t even start to account for the pace of play.
Modern teams are putting 1,505 miles on players, whereas in the 1979⁄80 season it was around 1,282 miles. During Barkley’s peak years, the average was only around 1,300 miles, 200 miles less than the modern stars.
That’s not how it works.
This is such a terrible argument. The reason guys sit out is because their most valuable asset is their body. This isn’t 2000 anymore. The game is played in a completely different way, the increased pace places way more stress on a players body. Them getting played millions IS the reason they’re resting.
Showing up to work 79% of the time is a terrible argument for showing up to work?
That’s how you interpreted that?
Thinking Basketball put out a great video on the 65 game rule a few days ago and it pretty much completely changed my mind on the rule:
https://youtu.be/s5_ysUr9iEk
TL;DW - 65 games used to be a reasonable cutoff but now it just simply isn’t. The game is much more dynamic and physically demanding these days and legitimate injuries are just way more common as a result.
A 65 game threshold would have only affected a few of the top 40 scorers in basically any year up to the mid-2010s, at which point the number started increasing dramatically, and now it’s around a third or more of those players.
In addition, games played due to the rule that would have otherwise been “rest” games is roughly estimated to be maybe 5-10 games total across all of those top 40 scoring players. Less than 1 per player.
So it’s not that star players don’t want to play, or that they’re lazy, or that load management is out of control. It’s that players simply CAN’T play, and the 65 game rule is both too high of a threshold in the modern NBA and ALSO just not doing anything to “fix” the supposed “problem.”
Exactly you get more millions for performing in the playoffs than the regular season because it’s what actually determines the winner of the league. So your body is more valuable being rested a few games during the season. Obviously anyone is free to disagree with me but I think it’s true.
Dude it’s terrible to watch and waters down the sport to unbelievable levels. At this point, cut the schedule down to 65 games.
This is such a garbage argument. Football players put their bodies through way more and play as much as possible. Same with hockey. Same with baseball. The game hasn’t changed enough to warrant the amount of rest players are getting.
wont anyone think of the millionaires
Yes, it is a million times better to care about the most public representation of unions to be strong (sports unions) so it can help the American perception of unions. This will lead to more unions and stronger ones in the public, leading to more worker rights.
At the end of the day, Athletes are labor just like you and much closer to you than any of these billionaire owners are.
Yeah we should. Actually the billionaires should be paying them more
Can they pay me more too?
IMHO the players deserve a bigger cut of the pie but that’s a separate issue.
Flex pricing means fans are paying a premium and not getting what they were sold. Why is it it that a fan should pay more when the lakers come to town just to watch all the stars on the opposing team rest?
Fresh attitude after years of “ehmerwed players shud do whatever they wan! If dey don wanna play player empowermen!’
Too many hater knee jerk reaction votes.
The anti Embiid rule comes back to haunt them.
Now they wanna change it cause it fucked Luka
It’s really hard for an employee to stand against a union.
Shouldn’t the majority of players want it because the odds the odds you can become a one year fluke all-nba or move up from like third nba to first are higher. So the only ones against it would be first team all-nba players which make up like less than 1% of players.
I mean he’s right. None of these guys care about the negotiation process because it’s boring or whatever but they literally have a way to change their working conditions unlike most Americans
Eh, the reality is that most NBA players don’t give a crap about the top 30 missing out on supermaxes/awards anyways.
Yeah in reality like 95% of the union should be lining up to give that up as a concession for something else, which imo is actually a bit interesting from a pure business contract standpoint
Right. The worst that can happen is that these guys make 50 million a year instead of 60, big whoop
Chuck’s always been real
He’s right. Players probably skimmed it and said, “we can smoke weed?” and signed it without reading the fine print.
I’d argue not only the middle class got squeezed in free agency, but so did the star players with their bonuses.
It’s a home run CBA deal for the league and kind of an L for the players.
Players should just take the L and stop complaining. They voted and agreed to the CBA. Just move on.
Obviously they will take the L. Just means the next CBA period will have some friction. That’s how it is in every league. One side will have grievances. What you’re saying isn’t some new insight.
Seriously they get a chance to actually change their working conditiins and they probably sat on their asses ehile somebofys cousing probably argued the new rules
Are any players that are impacted complaining? Feels like fans and media are the ones upset
Luka and Cade will likely file for exceptions.
Cade deserves to qualify. That collapsed lung was bs and he was on track to play at least 65.
These rules were put in place because the league got mad at Kawhi and Embiid. This was such a big issue in 2020 that media heads were criticizing Kawhi, despite having a well known history of a degenerative knee condition. People were upset at Embiid despite having a weird injury history since he came into the league.
People shouldn’t complain when their own player gets affected - this is the rule fans wanted.
I’d also argue the Spurs were being upfront about doing this in the 2010s prior to Kawhi’s injuries began. It was tough to argue with Pop’s logic on that.
Yeah, whatever the spurs we’re doing seemed to have worked.
Duncan would’ve met the 65 game qualification every year of his career except the very last one.
Parker would have met it 14 of his first 15 seasons.
Ginobili was only 12⁄16.
The 2010s spurs are always used as an example of load management, but those guys still played most of the time. Alternatively, I guess you could just say that playing in 80% of your games is not a super high bar
Pop resting 40 year old player with busted knees and 1500 games played. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’d argue LeBron was a major culprit too. From 18-23 he would have met the game qualification one year.
There were tons of stories and threads and comments about people paying to see LeBron and him not suiting up. I was one of them.. twice!
Yep, then he had the gall to throw Kawhi under the bus in 2020. Man decided to take a vacation in the middle of the Cavs season one year
We all know what that vacation was really for
Imagine Luka comes back with 10+ lbs of muscle dunking on everybody after his rehab lmao
Rule got implemented and he magically when from 55⁄56 games played to 70⁄71. It is working as intended even if it sucks for guys who get legitimately injured
Definitely not all fans. This rule waters down end-of-season awards. Players will still be injured and missing games, but now they’ll be erased from the history books for something out of their control (e.g. Why is Cade Cunningham top 10 in major categories and not on an All-NBA team?).
The awards will just look silly until the next CBA.
I agree - which is why I never would’ve argued for the rule in the first place.
This league has a lot of stupid trends without ever addressing the key root of the issue.
- Teams got upset because teams like Clippers/Warriors were willing to spend more money for rosters. League institutes an even harsher penalty, and now teams like OKC and eventually the Spurs will be penalized. It’s harder to keep a dynasty around nowadays
- League got upset that players were sitting end of games and tanking. League institutes the play-in.
- League gets upset that players still sit. Institute 65 game rule.
Just lower the number of overall games and do away with the rules. This will remain an issue as long as 82 games remains
I don’t know why people think that by lowering the number of games a year will solve the problem, it won’t. Even if there were 65 games in a season, teams will still tank for high picks. Players will still sit out games, it doesn’t stop any of this.
Like do you honestly think less games in the season is going to stop teams like the Jazz and Wiz from tanking? If anything they will start it much earlier in the season.
The 65 game playes rule is a solid rule, because it stops players who played 50% or less of games from being nominated for/ winning awards, and that has happened before (Draymond was the last exanple this winning 1st all defense team while only playing 46 games in 2021). I will admit though that the 65 game rule should be tweaed to make certain exceptions such as Luka this year.
Nerf offensive gameplay (that’s all the NBA can do from their end, the other end is needing to reduce the amount of AAU players play before hitting college/foreign leagues) before shortening the season
I don’t think there’s a way to reduce movement on offense without just saying that they can’t, which is wack. I could be wrong though
Not all fans!
Cade and Luka were sipping on margaritas?
Well if Luka could control his temper he would’ve played 65 games but instead he got bailed out with one rescinded tech and still pushed his luck to get suspended which is his fault. Funny how lakers fan completely forgot about his suspension against the wizards.
If he didn’t get suspended he would’ve met the 65 game req and it would be crickets from lakers fans
The rule came as a result of load management, not players getting hurt. The argument being made is that this rule was brought about because players were content “sipping margaritas” instead of playing.
Players who load manage do it not because they are lazy, but because they are hurt.
Not badly hurt, but hurt nonetheless.
The NBA pushed them to play hurt, grind through discomfort, and as a result we have a spike of soft tissue injuries that make them miss way more games than they would just by resting a bit.
Hella good job, Adam fucking Silver.
Also the hypocrisy of guilt tripping the stars by telling them “that poor kid skipped meals for 2 years just to buy a ticket and see you playing the night you were load managing”. Maybe make sure there are affordable tickets in your fucking arenas, assholes.
How about doing your fucking job then? Cant even clock in for 80% of the time but expected to be on employee of the year list. Yeah right
The problem is everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too. Which includes the players.
They could go down to 70 games and remove B2B which solves the issue of playing through minor 1-2 day type injuries.
The owners obviously want max games and the players want to get paid for 82 which realistically expecting to not play at least 10% of those
Maybe Luka shouldn’t have been having sex and having a baby. Gotta deal with the repercussions of being horny
Or get suspended for a tech
The 17 games are supposed to account for things like that.
A legitimate injury is at least as valid a reason to miss a game as going to the birth of your kid. So if that should be overturned on appeal, why shouldn’t every game missed due to injury?
And then you’re back in pretty much the same spot.
What if you’re on the Jazz and your sister wives are having 3 babies an NBA season?
As if the Mormons are skipping anything to go to births. That’s a woman’s job.
Right, unless some unfortunate circumstance around the birth had him miss 20 games, it’s a weak argument.
If that’s true then Ant should be banned
Luka cares about his kids, Ant does not
Isn’t he in court trying to get his child support lowered lol
Honestly, that could be any athlete
They could have argued for the rule when negotiations where in place
Listen I love Charles but dude is hating way too much this season
the older you get the more you understand that literally everything is stupid bullshit
God this is the truest thing ever and I’m still like 30 years younger than chuck.
These fucking dumbass kids and their e-bikes I tell ya
He right tho, this coming from a Kawhi stan we needed the rule. These mfs getting payed hundreds of millions to play 80% of the games. You don’t get your full salary for 80% of the work.
How are mfs justifying this sht for ppl that don’t and won’t ever know them
I feel like players like Kawhi and Embiid are the poster children of load management and who got people the most incensed about load management, but they’re both players who time has proven weren’t just sitting on their ass because they wanted to. They were players whose bodies were breaking down on them. If you pay someone like that, that’s on you.
Players are missing more time than ever lol. We don’t need the rule
Kawhi has only made all nba once since the 2022 season. He was already not getting this award for not playing games, so why does there need to be a hard number instead of letting the voters use their judgement. It would be like saying the mvp has to score at least 20 ppg to qualify because most mvps score a lot.
even like javale mcgee is making as much as barkley made in a season too
And this hasn’t fixed anything, clearly it’s not the fault of the players.
Players are missing just as much time as ever. Last year it pushed quite a few players to play at least 65 games, and we got a bunch of injuries in the playoffs.
My GOAT Kawhi has made it 2⁄3 of the seasons since it was introduced it clearly is working
Every basketball fan would choose to have Kawhi make his 2019 run instead of getting injured trying to force games when he wasn’t feeling 100%.
Why do you talk about these folks as if they’re scammers or something? Most of this is them saying “hey i wanna ensure that im healthy for more meaningful games and my body doesnt feel as great now”
Watch the latest Thinking Basketball video and you will have a new perspective on why players now days are having trouble playing 82 games a season.
It’s common sense that the faster pace is the main factor but that doesn’t excuse playing less.
Either the players take a pay cut to shorten the season or suck it up and make the requirement for awards
Players are getting paid more due to increase in market value and NBA is bringing in more money every year. If the players are generating those values why would you not play them the proper amount? Where else can the money funnel into? The game evolved into faster pace so the league should suck it up that players can’t keep up to 82 games a season. They should make changes either make seasons shorter or fine with players getting proper amount of rest. Forcing players to play near 82 games a season would just make the playoffs worse for viewers.
It evolved due to bad rule changes.
The real solution is revert the movement changes, extend the line all the way around and call travels/carries
And again, that’s up to NBA to make those changes, don’t blame the players for reaching their physical limits.
I’m not OP, I misread the comment and thought it was negative
I mean he’s not wrong, 65 game rule stops load management, also if you don’t play at least 65 games, you’re probably not an MVP candidate anyways.
What about All-NBA though?
Is 64 games of Luka or 63 games of Cade really worth less than 72 games of Sengun?
I think they should lower it like NBA 1st team 65 games all NBA 2nd team 60 games all NBA 3rd team 55 games
That way if you see a really good guy on the third team you will sort of know that they were good but unfortunately missed a lot of games
If anything it should be lowered to 60 games or more instead of 65 games.
You gotta draw a line somewhere. Players voted for it and now they’re bitching about it.
You gotta draw a line somewhere.
No, you don’t.
We had no line for All-NBA for decades. It was fine.
Because players used to play games.
Because healthy players didn’t sit. Now they do.
I don’t think they do actually?
And guys have never sat for no reason this much either…so no
It’s actually an overall positive for the majority of players to the point I don’t see the players voting to have it go away. Similar to the franchise tag in the nfl, it only negatively impacts a few of the highest paid players already, while having downstream impacts that benefit the lower roster players more significantly.
Which will actually be worse overall because guys who don’t deserve supermax deals will get them and that hurts the team overall
You 100% right but using Sengun as a comparison in multiple comments is dirty
Not wrong, but a little disrespectful lmao
It’s just the one I bothered to look up, I have no beef with him in particular.
Maybe Luka shouldn’t have gotten that 16th tech this season. He would’ve been at 65
it clearly hasn’t had any impact. The years since the 65 game rule has been implemented have the highest rates of missed games by top 40 scorers. Seems like there is some other glaring issue here that isn’t just lazy players using too much load management or whatever the narrative is.
Its both things though. The games gotten to the point where load management is just so obviously smart. High usage guys are exploding their ligaments every year at a crazy clip. I mean what are you supposed to do
It should be lowered to 60+ games or more imo.
This, if the NBA wants to reduce load management, they need to find a way to slow the game down
I wonder if the solution doesn’t end up just playing your star players fewer minutes outside of the playoffs. Put them on a “pitch count” similar to mlb pitchers and pull them if they go over, regardless of how close the game is.
Change the rules so that players don’t have to play as explosively. The season has always been a marathon but it’s only been recently that people are treating it as a full sprint every night.
Why is that 82 games has been fine for decades but all of a sudden when players are getting paid more than ever and practicing less than ever that now they can’t play a full 82
The fuck do you mean practicing less than ever? What an absurd thing to say.
It’s not absurd. They don’t scrimmage in practices like in years past.
How much do you know about the history of the nba and the current NBA? It’s pretty well known that players are not practicing as intensely or often as they used to in the past.
What did I say makes you think that’s absurd
I blame shaq for constantly being the little brother who antagonizes & incourages chuck 🤣🤣
Also happy cake day friend 🎂
He’s not wrong
This show complains more than anything else, and has been for the last 5+ seasons. Shaq and Chuck are some salty mfers.
Ya’ll will never make me hate Chuck. Stop crying
Jokic missed a month with a knee injury, Cade got a freak collapsed lung injury along with a hip injury, Ant missed multiple games with a foot/knee injury, Luka flew to another country to see the birth of his child then got a grad 2 hamstring injury late on the season, and Wemby injured his calf.
All of these guys would’ve played 70+ games this season had they not gotten injured for an extended period of time.
Instead of an informed discussion about pace of play and why tissue injures are occurring at a higher rate, we get players are lazy jokes. Fuck this show.
This sub was ground zero for “players are lazy” jokes up until the last month or two…
*up until the rules started affecting their favorite players (Jokic and Luka)
Let the record reflect I’ve hated this stupid rule since the Haliburton injury season.
But Jokic isn’t being affected lol he’s fine
It’s really bizarre how hostile people here are to the players.
I wonder how many people on here have been burned by a star sitting out of a game they bought good tickets for
This is why I have no interest in going to a game. I’m not close to any arenas. I would need travel, hotel, tickets, food, etc. I don’t want to pay for all of that to get to the game and have stars sit, no thanks.
As a celtics fan living in DC I go to lots of games since they are so cheap. $160 to sit three rows behind lamelo when hornets come to town?
The key is to not go to a game if the other team in on a back to back bc the stars won’t play in dc
Sometimes it’s hard not to be hostile when you shell out a couple of hundred bucks to not see star players. 🤷🏻♂️
Not surprised, people on this sub were lapping up PK Subban’s bullshit last season.
Yeah until their (and the NBA media’s) golden boys were on the wrong end of it.
If they are the NBA media’s golden boys, what will their rankings be in the MVP race? Surely they would be first and second, right? 😂
Lmaooo the heel turn on Inside the NBA is hilarious. Half of these comments are just to join the circle jerk and get karma.
You will never convince me that Melo, T Mac, and fucking Vince Carter are more entertaining than Chuck and the boys
This shit started with LeBron and Kawhi load managing 💅🏻 Blaming the system but not the people who caused that shit.
This year has been unlucky but the rule wasn’t put into place because of what’s going on this year, it was due to a much larger sample size of needing to do something about stars missing games people pay to see.
i hope luka gets his appeal but he also screwed up by getting suspended a game, if he plays against the wizards he would’ve met 65 on that fateful okc night
Honestly hope he doesn’t, maybe it will teach him not to rack up so many techs bitching instead of just playing the game.
screwed up by getting suspended a game
Which is why he shouldn’t win his appeal. The 65 game rule is to account for all the fuckery that can happen.
Exactly.
In a vacuum, the rule should be 82 games. The 17 game buffer is to allow for injuries, somebody having a kid, etc.
The point is that these guys would have been eligible if it wasnt for the 65 game rule, the 65 rule only exists because players in previous years were taking games off for no reason. Players cant complain about the rule when they themselves were the cause of the rule, AND the players union voted for it. The NBA didnt add this rule for no reason
Players at the bargaining table: Yeah, 65 is fair. We can do that.
Players now: It’s unfair to expect 65 games out of us.
I haven’t been paying a lot of attention, but is it the players who are complaining or is it more the media and fans?
You completely missed the point but sure.
u should see hockey players and football players, Patrice Bergeron played with a collapsed lung and still play 20 min in the 2013 SCFs
I watch hockey and it’s extremely dumb when they play with injuries too. Bergeron looked like a shell of himself. Tyler Johnson played with a broken wrist, could’ve sat and gave another player an opportunity in the 2015 Finals, instead he was a net negative and lost the series.
Tkachuk was a ghost all post season with his injury but since Florida was so stacked it didn’t matter.
Outside of Draisital in 2022 and Karlsson in 2017 it’s rare for a seriously injured player to contribute to wins in the playoffs.
you’re forgetting about Draisital in 2026 during their champ run
Good for him.
Does anyone still think it’s the players who want to sit out?
Sometimes it absolutely is the players but you’re right a lot of the time it is the team benching/resting guys.
NBA/sporting culture has changed a lot, these players do want to sit out. We know that, players do what they want in the NBA, and the best players rest the most. Last time a team tried telling Kawhi what to do he didn’t take it well.
And you could’ve asked MJ or Kobe and they’d definitely say they loved playing every game.
Yeah people still think that. The criticism never made sense because it was most notably parroted for players like Embiid, AD, or Kawhi and those guys want to be out there and playing but their bodies really haven’t been able to handle it. Especially Embiid i think got it the worst because he really wants to be able to play and everyone has seen him out there on the court playing through a lot of tough injuries but gets the most criticism about not playing when he physically isn’t able to. This then got expanded to the rest of the league where its been engrained the notion of players not wanting to play but carrying behavior of entitlement to their full wage and rewards which again is just moronic but it’s the thing that Chuck has been parroting and has been popular for quite a while.
Say how it is Charles . Something tells me the next bargaining agreement will be a lot more serious and professional.
The 65-game rule was to get a bigger TV deal, which gave the players bigger paychecks.
Players really aren’t complaining about the 65-game rule. The player’s association wants some changes made to it, which seems fair.
The “sipping margaritas” thing is too dumb to even comment on.
More than likely he couldn’t come up with a better metaphor because he’s an idiot or drunk. Or both.
Chuck ain’t never lied
65 Games of Deni Avdija over 64 games from Luka, 63 games from Cade and 61 games of Ant because of margaritas or something
Amazing
The rule is in place for a reason, the rule was voted on and accepted by the players, they got massive pay upgrades in the process. I think the only real reason for all the media attention right now is because they want to get it changed for following years. I agree they should, but I also don’t know a better way to measure it: percentage of minutes played? Just a lower number? Some kind of weighted metric that takes into account injuries/personal issues?
Honestly 75% (62 games) seems pretty fair to me. If you miss more than a quarter of the season maybe you shouldn’t be eligible for awards. Line has to be drawn somewhere though, right? Otherwise goalposts move every year and then we’re just talking about favoritism for one player vs another.
We should have a panel of media voters who decide whether a player’s circumstances and quality of play are deserving of being eligible for awards on a case by case basis
Nah, it’s the last game of the regular season. Unless it’s a game that has seeding implications, then teams shouldn’t risk their most important players. We want teams to prioritize winning and postseason performance, but then we get pissed at them for doing exactly that.
The union and by extension the players agreed to it. Just another way they get greedy like signing a contract and asking out the next season. It’s tiring and I understand a few players make it worse than it actually is. But they had their opportunity to bargain and decided it was ok
Lol chuck is the man. He’s a goofball, but he’s right here. The CBA is there for a reason. The players don’t care enough to fight. They just bitch when something happens they dont like. Be more involved!!!
Barkley isn’t wrong, but I can’t get over how much more demanding today’s version of the NBAs game is with pacing. The speed and distance covered on the court compared to even 20 years ago has grown greatly. Watching any game in the 90s and it’s almost painful how slow the game is (not saying it wasn’t entertaining) but for the players,bthe cardio and strain is just more demanding on their bodies. I think a minutes played benchmark for % of season should qualify. The intent of this rule was needed, it just needs a little more tweaking.
He hates Luka and the Lakers, that’s all
I’m not sure how the money stuff works but isn’t this also kinda bad for teams when guys who probably shouldn’t make all nba will make it and will need to get paid more?
Missing 15 games is a lot. You’re getting paid tens of millions a year and complain playing basketball 82 times. No sympathy from me.
It’s almost like the same players that voice their frustrations with the rule could have also voted against it.
Rhis guys are idiots the new cba was so owner sided its funny. I have no doubt they saw weed being allowed and decided their deal was done
This is the Kawhi Leonard rule. Oh look, since he made the 65 game rule this season. He’s injured. These players are smart af.
Lol i love when shaq laughs at chuck’s crashouts
Say it again Chuck
I don’t see the issues. Availability is an ability and the awards are for the people with the most desired abilities.
Suppose Wemby sat tonight. Would you have rather had pretty much any other player this season?
Wemby sat tonight because he made the required number of games. Jokic’s playing because he hasn’t.
If Wemby didn’t meet the game limit, then he does not deserve awards. It’s that simple.
Usual Chuck W take
Players dont want to rest, they want the counting stats because their negotiations for a big extension deal depends on it.
i fucking love this shit, but it also reminds me of don cherry ..
might not be such a great thing lmao
People who don’t agree with Chuck are casuals
Like Wemby broke it down, not verbatim, but:
65 games is 80% of the season. They are being paid millions. There are people out in the streets that I bet if you gave them a year of conditioning, they would make the playoffs first year if you gave them that amount.
These dudes willingly get to wake up and go to practice to condition their bodies, be healthy and compete for a championship. It’s not like they’re doing that AND working like some 9-5.
Fans pay good money to go see a game only to find out all the stars are “load managing” that’s bullshit
I find the argument “the Players Union voted in favour of it” to not be a good one.
The Union is made of ~450 players, over 90% of who will not be affected by the rule. This isn’t like voting on revenue share or salary cap or whatever, because those things affect everyone.
This is a rule that specifically affects only a handful of players in the league. The majority of players voting on it couldn’t give a shit because it will have no impact on them.
Shaq is loving it
People called Bird unathletic but until he hurt his back he pretty much played at least 77 games a season and a couple of times every regular season game. Then they had playoff games in the Garden with no AC. The 1984 Finals got as hot as 97 degrees.
Chuck is hating I agree but he’s right about it bring collectively bargained. They absolutely agreed to this. It’s BS but they should’ve never agreed to it in the 1st place.
The only ones I really see crying much about the rule are/were the Lakers and their fans. Most others have made a passing remark at most and since have largely dropped it (comments only came from players potentially impacted and media soliciting responses on the topic).
The masses don’t care, and it’s been better for the league and fans. The issue being a bit front and center likely means guys that have anything on the line next year won’t decide to just sit out a random game because they don’t feel like playing.
MLB plays 162 games a year, and the only time players really ever sit out is on a double header (missing one of the two games played in the same day), and some still play both. You never have seen sitting out happening all (ex: early-mid) season in the NFL or NHL either and they are much more physical.
The rule has worked and will likely help cut down even more in future years after this year. That gets more fans caring to pay to go to games (even for bad teams when a star team/player comes to town) and also helps with viewership/ media rights (ie: $$$).
MLB plays 162 games a year, and the only time players really ever sit out is on a double header (missing one of the two games played in the same day), and some still play both.
This often isn’t even true for position players and is definitely not true for pitchers
Most position players in baseball still play 140+ a year when healthy. There’s very very little “load management” for them. Pitchers is entirely different.
Maybe a team has a backup catcher that plays 40 games a year but that’s about it. In the NBA these guys are trying to win MVPs only playing 40 games it’s insane
Charles truly hates the NBA nowadays lol
I mean who reads terms of agreements lol we all just agree at the end of the page.
The CBA thing is so true, and its so annoying when players and fans seem to miss that whole concept. (Though with fans, it’s mostly a thing on the baseball sub). They want what the bargained for in the CBA, and then some additional range of benefits out of “fairness” on top of that.
agreed
Charles has Ozempic brain. It’s so bad he honestly believes he’s not a ring chaser
This rule is stupid. We should want our stars going for championships. Not forcing them to risk further injury or lose millions.
Have them sit out the entire year and wait for the playoffs
I think it’s time we sent these dudes to the retirement home.
Chuck is right.
There’s never been a league with a greater need for a smaller season. It would solve basically everything but the greed from all parties means it’ll never happen… and so this debate will rage on
Why not just lower it to 50?
Pretty rich coming from a television crew that takes gams off too
Time to retire Chuck
This wasn’t a CBA thing though was it? I thought it was imposed by the Board of Governors.
No it was part of the CBA agreement, voted on and ratified by the players.
No. The players voted on it. And despite what some fans want to think it wasn’t CJ McCollum.
ty
Just make it 62 games