Tyrese Haliburton shouldn’t be a fan of the NBA’s new participant participation coverage. After apply on Monday, as Haliburton was planning on coming back from a five-game absence, the All-Star guard sounded off on the league’s new rule which has a minimal video games performed requirement for end-of-season awards and All-NBA honors. 

However let’s rewind a second to supply some context. When the NBA and participant’s union agreed to a brand new collective bargaining settlement in April 2023, a rule that was slipped in there was a participant participation coverage, which set a 65-game threshold for gamers to be eligible for awards like Most Beneficial Participant and Defensive Participant of the 12 months, in addition to All-NBA honors. Gamers are additionally required to play a minimal of 20 minutes in every of these 65 video games to be eligible. 

Already, we have seen how that rule may come into play for MVP, as Joel Embiid, who’s main the league in scoring and had been a heavy favourite to repeat for the award, can solely miss 5 extra video games this season to stay eligible. Haliburton is now additionally feeling the influence that coverage may have, primarily in his checking account. Haliburton’s max contract extension that he signed final summer season allowed him to earn as much as 30% of the Pacers’ wage cap beginning with the 2024-25 season, however provided that he made an All-NBA group throughout the 2023-24 season. 

He is already missed 13 video games this season, and he solely performed 13 minutes in an early January recreation in opposition to the Celtics, which is when he acquired injured — so it does not rely towards the 65-game threshold. This implies he can solely miss three extra video games to stay eligible for All-NBA and to earn reportedly an additional $40 million over the lifetime of his contract. 

“I feel it is a silly rule, like loads of the fellows within the league, however that is what the homeowners need, in order gamers, we gotta do our job and play in 65 video games if we’re capable of,” Haliburton mentioned. “So, that is what I gotta do, deal with my physique to have the ability to play in these video games, and I feel you are seeing different gamers within the league sort of face the identical factor. So long as the homeowners are comfortable.”

It is an fascinating circumstance as a result of it is not as if Haliburton was load managing and simply sitting out video games. Previous to suiting again up for the Pacers on Tuesday in opposition to the Celtics, Haliburton had missed 10 of the final 11 video games on account of a hamstring damage. 

That is the place this rule might have some tweaking down the road, as a result of if a participant misses 18 video games over the course of the season on account of numerous accidents and illnesses, however ought to with out query be on an All-NBA group, or ought to be within the working for one thing like Defensive Participant of the 12 months, then that rule should not simply disqualify them. We’ll must see how this rule impacts this season, as a result of it does not sound just like the gamers, as Haliburton is saying, are too thrilled on this coverage.