Adam Silver Talks 65-Game Rule for NBA Awards as NBPA Eyes Changes Amid Cade Cunningham Injury

The National Basketball Players Association is pushing for change regarding the 65-game requirement for postseason awards, but commissioner Adam Silver isn't quite ready to move on from that framework.

"I'm not ready to say it's not working," Silver told reporters on Wednesday. "It is working... I'm not ready to say because there is a sense of unfairness for one player, that the rule doesn't work."

The NBPA issued a statement on Tuesday regarding Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham's potential ineligibility for awards this season.

"Cade Cunningham's potential ineligibility for postseason awards after a career-defining season is a clear indictment of the 65-game rule and yet another example of why it must be abolished or reformed to create an exception for significant injuries," the statement read. "Since its implementation, far too many deserving players have been unfairly disqualified from end-of-season honors by this arbitrary and overly rigid quota."

Cunningham has been one of the best players in the league this season, even emerging in MVP talks while averaging 24.5 points and 9.9 assists per game to lead the Pistons to the top record in the East.

Cunningham is in jeopardy of missing out on end-of-season awards, however, since he suffered a collapsed lung last week and will miss at least eight games. Cunningham has played 61 games, so there's a realistic chance he won't meet the 65-game threshold to be eligible for All-NBA and other honors.

Cunningham wouldn't be the first player to miss out on awards because of games missed, but he'd arguably be the most significant player so far.

The rule was put in place to incentivize players for playing more games and to curb players from missing games more than they need to. It's unclear how much of a difference it's made just yet, but it seems Silver wants to keep the experiment going for at least a little while longer.