Draymond Green points out intriguing consequence of new CBA restrictions - "You got bums on the All-NBA team"
On March 31, the NBA and NBPA came to an agreement regarding a 65-games requirement for players. This means players will have to meet this requirement in order to be considered for major league individual awards, such as MVP and All-NBA.
On his eponymous podcast, Draymond Green said:
"I can appreciate this and everyone can appreciate this," Green said, "until you got bums on the All-NBA teams and winning awards because someone didn't qualify because they missed ten games at some point in the season with an ankle injury. All of a sudden you don't have any of those guys on All-NBA teams, then what NBA are we representing?"
Green also argued that owners around the NBA will start to complain once they find out that a non-All-Star caliber player is eligible for a contract extension due to being included in an All-NBA team.
The NBA's minimum 65-games requirement
Before the new agreement was finalized, some players complained about not being eligible to get bonuses on their contract extensions because they weren't included in an All-NBA team.
On JJ Redick's "The Old Man and the Tree" podcast, which aired on February 17, four-time All-Star Jayson Tatum said there is the need for a certain critera in making All-NBA.
During the 2020-2021 season, Tatum could have been eligible for the $32 million bonus on his rookie extension as the All-NBA is position-based, so it will always come down to only a handful of players making the cut.
The topic returned to the spotlight just last March, and this time with two-time All-Star Jaylen Brown. Brown gained some attention from the media with his eye-opening comments regarding his open-ended future with the Boston Celtics.
There was some speculation that, if Brown doesn't make All-NBA this season, he won't be eligible for the "supermax" extension. This would result in an interesting scenario in free agency as rival teams would be interested in acquiring the star forward.
Now, with the 65-games requirement, it gives more ground for Brown to make an All-NBA team. However, Draymond Green's intriguing comments about the other side of the requirement when it comes to players who are not even All-Stars receiving extensions must be considered. As always with all things NBA, the development and implementation of this new requirement will be interesting.