We can all agree the 65-game threshold for NBA awards is terrible. It's okay to admit we were wrong! I thought it was a good idea when it was originally installed a few years ago, but now it feels wild to punish a player who could miss as few as 18 games for being injured; in the case of someone like Cade Cunningham, whose "injury" isn't even basketball-related, it feels like a cruel joke.
I'm not a fan of the rule. That doesn't mean Jalen Johnson — who will likely sneak into a second-team All-NBA selection because so many of the presumed first and second-teamers won't qualify — should apologize. He shouldn't!
It's not like Johnson will be some egregious outlier, either. He's putting up 23 / 10 / 8 on good efficiency, leading a team that's now well over .500, and is No. 10 in the league in VORP. The counting stats and advanced stats both like his game. Ten years from now, no one will remember Johnson as a guy who made second-team All-NBA just because a bunch of other guys didn't qualify.
Jalen Johnson is likely to make second team All-NBA
And he should be proud of that! Johnson will easily clear the 65-game mark required to be considered for awards and that, at this point, is an accomplishment on its own. Other players shouldn't be blamed for being injured, but Johnson should be commended for mostly staying healthy, especially after two straight injury-riddled seasons. Availability is the best way to make All-NBA, or however the phrase goes.
It's getting safer by the day to assume that in five years, Johnson will have multiple more All-NBA selections to his name. But even if he doesn't and for some reason this year (assuming nothing insane happens in the voting) is his only selection, who cares?
A second-team selection would not be tainted or have an asterisk because it took a bunch of guys not playing 65 games for it to happen. Do you think Andrew Wiggins apologizes for starting an All-Star Game because K-Pop fans voted for him? No! And he shouldn't, either!
We also shouldn't count out the NBA scrapping the 65-game threshold in the next few weeks as guys keep dropping like flies. Nikola Jokic might not make the mark, along with Kawhi Leonard, Tyrese Maxey, and Victor Wembanyama. That's enough starpower to make Adam Silver rethink some things. Or not. I never know what's happening in his brain. As it stands, expect some big honors for JJ after the season wraps up.