NBA wants awards to be tied with the number of games a player played / News - Basketnews.com

The NBA plans on adding an incentive to play more games as the end-of-season awards might be tied to the number of games played by the candidates.

Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports Credit Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The practice of load management has become more prevalent in the NBA in recent times. With the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) coming to an end, the league is looking for ways to solve it.

According to The Athletic, the NBA is thinking about tying the end-of-season rewards to the number of games played by the candidates. It would incentivize the players as well as tackle the issue of load management, the league thinks.

Last year, only three of the top 12 players in MVP voting played more than 68 games, the article notes. When the NBA last played a full 82-game season, the result was reversed with at least 10 MVP candidates participating in 68+ games during the three seasons before COVID-19 struck.

"We want to make sure that we have a system where our best players are incentivized to be on the floor," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said. "At the same time, we obviously don’t want to see them injured."

The Athletic writes that this notion is expected to be in the new agreement in one form or another.

Both the NBA and NBA Players Association have the right to opt out of the current deal until March 31st. If at least one of the sides does, the current agreement is set to expire on June 30th.

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