Steve Kerr Says Controversial NBA Rule “Needs to Be Revamped” as Draymond Green Set to Miss All-NBA Honor

The pushback to his radical suggestion has not demoralized Steve Kerr in the slightest. This time his agenda to revamp the NBA schedule is not just limited to Stephen Curry and the rampant soft tissue injuries hurting his team. He pointed out how another one of his players is suffering under the player participation policy. The optimistic part about his campaign is that in a pool of dissent, Draymond Green likely agrees with his head coach.

While the 65-game rule was designed to curb load management, Kerr believes the policy has reached a point of unintended consequences. He admitted he used to not care about it too much until he realized it negatively affected his veteran core’s eligibility.

Ahead of the game against the Detroit Pistons, Kerr issued a blunt critique of the current CBA guidelines, specifically targeting the rigid minute requirements that are currently threatening Draymond Green’s eligibility for All-Defensive and All-NBA honors. “I’ll be honest, I never really gave it any thought in the past. It didn’t affect me at all,” Kerr told reporters. “But I’m reading and hearing about all the people who are potentially affected. We have one with Draymond in terms of All-Defense.”

Kerr revealed a specific “19-minute” technicality that he had only recently discovered, which discounts games where a player appears on the court but doesn’t reach a certain playing time threshold. “I learned something today that I didn’t know, which was: if you play less than 19 minutes, then that doesn’t count towards your 65… You would think that they would include games where guys actually played. So, yes, it needs to be revamped.”

“It needs to be revamped.”

Steve Kerr on the 65-game rule for awards. Mentions Draymond Green’s all-defense candidacy as an example. He’s played 56 games. pic.twitter.com/WbltdLz9lF

— Joseph Dycus (@joseph_dycus) March 20, 2026

A superficial search confirms that the CBA does in fact add another asterisk over the 65-game rule to qualify for awards and All-NBA honors. Games where a player plays between 15 and 19 minutes can count only twice, while games with fewer than 15 minutes do not count toward the 65-game minimum threshold. A mininum of 20 minutes count as a full game.

Green is currently averaging 27.2 minutes this season. At some games in the start of the season he was limited to under 20 minutes, including 9-minute and 8-minute games in January.

The frustration in the Warriors’ locker room reflects a growing sentiment that the rule is punishing players for even tactical rotation changes. As Kerr noted, the rigidity  often ignores the physical reality of a long season, leading to a situation where the league’s most impactful defenders like Dray could be denied of deserving honors due to a few minutes of clock time.

Draymond Green agrees with Steve Kerr

Previously, Steve Kerr went from suggesting the NBA should change the 65-game rule to demanding a meeting with the league office to implement a change. Apart from Adam Silver’s office claiming they saw no evidence connecting the number of games played to the frequency of injuries, even retired players like Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady didn’t agree with Kerr.

But the Golden State Warriors’ best defender came to Kerr’s defense too. On The Draymond Green Show last week, Dray refuted the claims by former players saying, “There is a lot of games and things are different, I know everybody look at like, oh man they used to play 82 games all those years ago. Like, they used to walk the ball up the floor, the pace difference the game is played at now and the pace played in the 90’s is like drastically different.”

He proceeded to back Kerr’s statement. “So, the game has changed and I think the amount of games. Like, you’re putting all these things to protect the amount of games played by stars, 65 game rule all these things. And the reality is, it’s just too many games.”

Green didn’t say anything about his own eligibility for All-NBA honors but Kerr’s comments today hint that this discussion has been had in the locker room. For Draymond Green, who has battled various minor ailments and come close to ejections and suspensions, the disqualification from All-Defensive honors is a massive blow to a player widely regarded as one of the premier defensive anchors in franchise history.

It’s not just him. Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis Antetokounmpo are among the players who are disqualified for end-of-season honors despite being impressive when they’ve participated. Cade Cunningham is likely to be disqualified despite a solid case to upset MVP odds. Luka Doncic, Victor Wembanyama, and Nikola Jokic have to play extended minutes at risk of straining themselves to retain their criteria.

Reacting to Cunningham’s injury, Green slammed the 65-game rule for discarding the season Cade had before a season-ending injury. “It just doesn’t fix the issue,” Green said on his podcast. “Here’s a guy who’s done everything right, has a collapsed lung, and he’s going to miss All-NBA because this dumba– rule that does not fix the issue.”

While the NBA sought to protect the fan experience by ensuring stars are on the court, Kerr’s and Green’s call for a revamp suggests that the current criteria is too arbitrary to be fair. As the Warriors head into the final stretch, this team has to account for minutes as much as the box score to salvage what’s left of their season.

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