Forty-one million dollars.
Tyrese Haliburton missed three games this season before suffering a hamstring injury after playing 13 minutes against the Celtics on Jan. 8. He missed 10 of the Pacers' next 11 games due to injury, with his return scheduled for Tuesday night against those same ones. Celtics.
Halliburton has had a great season, He was voted an All-Star starter, on his way to becoming an NBA player — except for the league's new player participation policy that stipulates that a player must play more than 20 minutes in 65 games to qualify for any postseason award. That's where the $41 million comes into play — Haliburton signed a max contract extension with the Pacers this offseason, a five-year contract worth $204.5 million (using the $141 million salary cap the NBA told teams in Latest forecast sent on Tuesday). This means 25% of the maximum salary. However, if Haliburton makes an All-NBA team, under the Rose Rule he can recoup up to 30% of the cap, an additional $41 million over the life of the contract.
The bottom line is that Haliburton can only miss three games for the rest of the season, or he won't qualify for the NBA. It's a topic that has generated a lot of discussion about Joel Embiid Midseason MVP for many voters But he's missed 12 games already and could only miss five more all season or fall short of the MVP/All-NBA threshold. Which would be bad for Embiid, but his contract is locked in, and he won't lose any money, as is the case with Haliburton.
You can guess how Halliburton feels about the new rule; As he told James Boyd of The Athletic.
“I think it's a stupid rule, like a lot of players in the league, but that's what the owners want, so as players, we've got to do our job and play 65 games if we're able to,” Haliburton said. Practice Monday. “So, that's what I have to do, take care of my body so I can play in those games, and I think you see other players in the league experiencing the same thing. As long as the owners are happy.”
It's no coincidence that the 65-game rule suddenly came into being — along with the regular-season championship — just as Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA were negotiating a new broadcast rights deal and needed to shore up the value of the regular season. The NBA sells its inventory to fill all cable television hours from October through April with an 82-game regular season, but the value of those games declines if key players are absent. It was an effort by the league to limit “load management,” though a lot of those games were dictated by teams trying to keep star players healthy and rested for the playoffs, which is when fans (and owners) really care about the night. Match results.
Media members vote for MVP, All-NBA, and most other postseason awards in the league, and I can say firsthand that many voters take games played (or total minutes played) into account. I do it — when casting my vote for first-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic in 2021, part of the reasoning for choosing him over Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo (the next three in total voting) was games played. Jokic has played in 72 games this season compared to Embiid's 51, Curry's 63, and Antetokounmpo's 61. It was important. Voters would rather have that control in their hands and be able to say that this season for All-NBA Embiid was more valuable than some of the other centers' 65-plus games played because of how dominant he was (Embiid was second-team All-NBA which season). That season, using the 65-game limit, Embiid, Bam Adebayo, Domantas Sabonis and Clint Capela would not have played enough games to qualify, so Rudy Gobert was second-team All-NBA and Nikola Vucevic third-team.
Players can miss 17 games this season and still be eligible for postseason awards, but when they reach 18 games they are out (which results in them missing just over 20% of the season). Haliburton missed 13 games after injuring his hamstring, but the game in which he was injured and played just over 13 minutes also does not count toward the NBA's calculations (players are allowed to count two games up to 65 in which they play 15+ minutes but not 20 minutes , but Haliburton did not exceed this limit in the injury match).
That means if Haliburton misses just four more games all season, he loses $41 million. He rolled his ankle, sidelining him for a week and that was it.
Understandably, Halliburton thinks this is stupid.
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