The final day of the NBA regular season is here, and so is a number that has said something uncomfortable about the state of the league. Associated Press reporter Tim Reynolds posted a calculation on Sunday that stopped the basketball internet: $2,526,031,083.
That is the combined 2025-26 salary of every player that is already ruled out of today’s games. Two and a half billion dollars of talent, sitting in street clothes on the last day of the regular season.
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Reynolds posted the figure to X on Sunday morning ahead of the final slate of regular-season games. He framed it as the cumulative salary represented by players already confirmed out of action. “$2,526,031,083,” Reynolds wrote. “That’s the combined salary this season of players who have already been ruled out of today’s games in the NBA.”
$2,526,031,083.
That’s the combined salary this season of players who have already been ruled out of today’s games in the NBA.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) April 12, 2026
To put that in context, let’s look at the NBA’s 2025-26 salary cap, which is $154,647,000. The collective salary of players who will sit out Sunday’s games is more than sixteen times the cap. Now, that’s a figure that has captured the full industrial scale of rest, load management, injury protocols, and tanking that defined the final weeks of the regular season.
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The injury report numbers used in Reynolds’ calculation, which are based on the final day’s official NBA listing (excluding G League and two-way assignments), provided a clear picture. There are 155 players out, nine doubtful, 37 questionable, and eight probable. Thirteen of the league’s 30 teams have already confirmed seven or more players: the Brooklyn Nets, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Washington Wizards, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kings, and Utah Jazz.
Almost every team that has its playoff seed locked, lottery position secured, or meaningful stakes removed has made the same logical decision: sit everyone who matters. The specific names have given the $2.52 billion figure its true significance. Luka Doncic is out for the Lakers and is currently in Spain receiving treatment for a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Milwaukee has ruled Giannis Antetokounmpo out for the final game, putting an end to his back-and-forth appearances. The Knicks are also missing Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Josh Hart.
Oklahoma City holds the No. With the first seed locked in and nothing to play for, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams will rest for the second straight game. Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert are out for Minnesota. Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun, and Amen Thompson are all resting for Houston. Devin Booker has been ruled out for Phoenix. Jamal Murray has been confirmed out for Denver, along with the majority of the Nuggets’ starting lineup, with Nikola Jokic only listed as questionable. Boston, with the No. Two seeds have been secured, and the majority of the rotation is currently resting.
On Friday, the penultimate day of the regular season, the Associated Press reported that 168 players had been officially ruled out of games across the league. Sunday’s 155 confirmed outs followed a similar pattern: this season’s final weekend will serve as an extended maintenance day for rosters across the league, rather than a competition.
Furthermore, the scale of the 2025-26 season’s rest “epidemic” has been notable even by the standards of recent years. Five of the league’s six highest-paid players, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum, have already fallen below the 65-game threshold that is required for awards eligibility. The one exception is Nikola Jokic, who is still trying to get onto the floor today, when the Nuggets visit San Antonio.
The Rest Epidemic’s Most Damaging Consequence: A Season Without Award-Eligible Stars
The $2.52 billion figure Tim Reynolds posted is the most visible symptom of a culture that the league has tried to manage for years. But the deepest consequence of this season’s rest and load management epidemic is not a single Sunday’s injury report. It is what the 65-game eligibility rule has exposed: a season that may be remembered as one that produced the most award-ineligible individual performances in league history.
Consider the statistical leaders as we head into Sunday’s finale. Luka Doncic led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game, which is the highest average since the peak of the Wilt Chamberlain era on a per-season basis among players who qualified. He will not be eligible for awards. And he’s not alone, because Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, at 31.1 points per game, was his nearest challenger and is not playing today.
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Apr 2, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) dribbles as Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) defends during the first quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Nikola Jokic, who averaged 27.8 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.9 assists per game, has a historic triple-double average with 34 triple-doubles on the season, and is on track to lead the league in both rebounds and assists simultaneously for the first time in history. He is listed as questionable for today, and has to play tonight to clear the 65-game threshold and appear on the MVP and other award ballots at all. Five of the six highest-paid players in the league this season missed the threshold entirely.
The NBA’s 65-game rule was introduced specifically to combat this pattern: to ensure that players earning maximum contracts played enough games to be meaningfully evaluated against their peers. The rule has now produced an unintended consequence this season, as the epidemic of injuries, load management decisions, and end-of-season rest protocols was so widespread that it caught not just fringe All-Stars but the statistical leaders of the entire season in its net.
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Ved Vaze