It has been a tumultuous 2025-26 season in the NBA. The most-debated topic around this season has to be the backlash that the league has received for the 65-game rule. With the potential of many star players missing out on NBA honors this season after failing to meet the 65-game criteria due to injuries, there was a significant backlash from the NBPA to abolish or reform the rigid rule. While there was some pressure on the league to reform the rule, recent reports suggest a different story.

According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps‘s recent report, the NBA is not changing the 65-game rule this summer or anytime soon in the future. This means the Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham, who was in MVP conversations until now, has now fallen off the All-NBA honors because of not being able to meet the 65-game criteria due to a collapsed lung.

This verdict comes after the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, has publicly stated that the 65-game rule is successful and doesn’t see any reason to get it changed, despite the National Basketball Players’ Association’s public call to change or abolish the rule. “We always knew when there’s a line you draw, that somebody’s going to fall on the other side of that line,” Silver said Wednesday at a news conference after a meeting of the league’s board of governors.

“And it may feel unfair in that particular instance. Let’s see what happens at the end of this year. By the way, Cade Cunningham is an incredible player. I’m sorry that he’s injured and can’t wait to see him back on the floor, but we also have to remember that, to the extent that one player is no longer eligible, some other player will then be All-NBA and will slot into that spot. So I’m not ready to stand here saying I don’t think it’s working. I think it is working.”

This has been a sensational season for Cunningham, as he is a major reason why the Detroit Pistons are dominating the league and are at the top of the Eastern Conference. So seeing him miss out on the All-NBA honors would be a major blow for someone who is averaging 24.5 points and handing out 9.9 assists per game.

Cunningham has featured in 61 games, and he won’t even qualify for the CBA’s criteria for exceptions, where players are needed to play at least 62 games and be determined by doctors to be out through May 31.

Cunningham’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, has slammed the league and its rigid rules for his client missing out on the NBA honors at the end of this regular season. “Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season. If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season.” Schwartz told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.”

While most fans and players have called out the 65-game rule and how multiple players are missing out on the honors because of its rigidity, former NBA star and Hall of Famer, Tracy McGrady, has shown his support for the rule in a completely left-field argument.

Tracy McGrady unexpectedly voices opinion in favor of the 65-game rule amid severe backlash

Several NBA stars, including Kevin Durant, have voiced their opinion against the 65-game eligibility rule. However, this is not the first time the rule has come between a deserving candidate and the honors. In the past, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry have all missed out on the honors because of the rule.

While the 65-game rule has received severe backlash following the NBPA’s appeal, former NBA star Tracy McGrady has surprisingly spoken in support of the infamous rule.

“I’m just going to say this, if we’re in an 82-game season, there’s no player that should win an award playing 40 games, 50 games, 60 games. No way. Because if that player played 60 games and the player he’s up against played 75 games, I don’t care how great the player was for 60 games. I’m saying as far as numbers are concerned, if that player that plays 60 games versus a 75 game, that’s a big difference, man,” T-Mac said during the recent episode of The Cousins podcast with Vince Carter.

T-Mac’s thought is simple: that a player who has played 60 games should not be compared with someone who has played 75 games in a season. While he understands the unfortunate scenario of injuries, he believes that players who play the entire season should be rewarded and not the other way around.

While the league holds firm, Cunningham’s case has become a flashpoint that will likely fuel the NBPA’s push for reform in the next collective bargaining agreement. For now, however, one of the season’s most electrifying players will be watching the awards from the sidelines, a casualty of a rule that values availability over peak performance.