As of this season, NBA payers must participate in at least 65 regular-season games to be eligible for certain major NBA season awards: Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, All-NBA Team (First, Second, or Third), or All-Defensive Team (First or Second). Here are the nuances of the 65 game rule:

Players Must Play in at Least 65 Regular Season Games

65 is the minimum games requirement (however there are exceptions). Notable players that will not meet this threshold include Joel Embiid, Kyrie Irving, Trae Young, among others. Not being eligible for these major season awards could have financial ramifications for the players - we will get into this later.

 

Players Only Have to Play in 62 Regular Season Games if They Suffered a “Season-ending Injury”

A player who has played in at least 62 Regular Season games and then suffers a season-ending injury, having played in at least 85% of their team's games before the injury, can still be eligible for the awards. For example, Alperen Şengün played in 63 games before suffering an ankle sprain on March 10 vs the Kings. The CBA defines a “season-ending injury” as an injury that, in the opinion of a physician jointly selected by the NBA and the Players Association, makes it substantially more likely than not that the player would be unable to play through May 31 following the date of the injury (pg 433 of the CBA). Therefore Şengün’s eligibility for the aforementioned post-season awards is still to be determined.

Minimum Amount of Minutes per Game

 

A player will be considered to have played in a Regular Season game for these purposes if they played at least 20 minutes. For no more than two Regular Season games per season, a player will be considered to have played in a game for these purposes if they played at least 15 minutes and fewer than 20 minutes. This prevents players from making an appearance and checking out early to satisfy the requirement.

 

Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge

 

In cases where a player does not meet the standard criteria due to exceptional situation  but believes there are extraordinary reasons that should allow for their eligibility for certain NBA awards, they can challenge their ineligibility. This challenge is reviewed by a designated Grievance Arbitrator, who will consider whether the player's failure to meet the game appearance requirement was due to circumstances beyond the player's control and sufficiently extraordinary to warrant an exception. The Grievance Arbitrator has the authority to deem the player eligible for the awards if the challenge is successful.

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Contract Bonuses Reliant Upon the 65 games Requirement

Some players will have bonuses built into their contract if they are to reach the 65 games criteria (ex. Jaylen Brown) and some players can have bonuses in their contract contingent on post-season awards (ex. Derrick White). Bonuses can be “likely” or “unlikely”. Likely bonuses are incentives that a player earned in the previous season and are expected to earn again in the current contract. These bonuses count towards the team's salary cap at the start of the season because they are considered probable based on the player's past performance. Unlikely bonuses are incentives that a player did not earn in the previous season and are not expected to be earned in the current season. These bonuses do not count towards the team's salary cap initially. However, if the player achieves the benchmarks required for these bonuses during the season, they will count towards the cap at that point.

How Post-season Honours can Affect a Player’s Eligibility to Sign a Supermax Contract

There is a special designation called the "Designated Veteran Player Extension" (DVPE), often referred to as the "supermax" contract, that allows players to sign a contract for up to 35% of the salary cap even if they have only 7-9 years of service, under certain conditions. To be eligible, a player must:

1. Be named MVP in any of the three seasons preceding the signing of the contract or in the most recent season

2. Be named Defensive Player of the Year in the immediately preceding season or in two of the three seasons immediately preceding the season of signing

 

OR

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3. Be named to an All-NBA First, Second, or Third team in the immediately preceding season or in two of the three seasons immediately preceding the season of signing

For players such as Tyrese Haliburton who are on an expiring contract, being named to an All-NBA team would make him eligible for a supermax contract. Haliburton has played in 62 games this year (62 games minus one ineligible 13 minute game and plus the In-season Tournament Finals) which counts towards this criteria. Therefore, Haliburton needs to play in 3 more of the Pacers remaining 7 games to be considered for an All-NBA team.

Player Traded after Rookie Contract

 

Donovan Mitchell is no longer eligible for a Designated Veteran ("supermax") contract because of the stipulation that a player becomes ineligible for such a deal if he has been traded after his first four years in the NBA. Since Mitchell was traded from the Utah Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason following his fifth year in the NBA, this disqualifies him from supermax eligibility, regardless of whether he meets the performance criteria.

Major Postseason Honours for Players that are not Contingent on 65 Game Criteria

There is currently no 65 game criteria in the CBA for a player to be named 6th man of the year, or for a player to be named to an All-Rookie team or Rookie of the Year.​