Stephen A. RESPONDS to Tyrese Haliburton's distaste for the NBA's 65-game rule 👀 

Watching the NBA for decades, I have never dream that one day players will complain about playing 65 games. How the NBA has declined. Players are not only SOFT but SPOILT.

That's another reason Stockton's assist record will never be broken; 16 seasons playing every game?!?! Wow.

Scottie Pippen played all 82 and was making like $200 a game

Honestly this is my favorite Stephen A rant. He’s so right, these words should be echoed in all NBA Locker rooms

65 games ain’t crazy to ask for

I remember Kobe being interviewed after he retired. He was asked about owning a team. He laughed and said the players were entitled. Looking back, that’s prophetic at a time like this.

Mikal Bridges the only real one left, respect to him for still not missing a game

A.C Green played 1192 games streak , and these "super stars" cry about 65 games a season "stupid rule"?😅

I say withhold the game check for each game they don’t play.

Larry Bird's load management was lying prone at the Boston bench whenever he came out of the game.

Imagine working your regular job and expected no repercussions for missing that much of the work year percentage wise you'd be jobless

Thank you Steven A. Smith for being the voice of the fans who has been disappointed at these NBA star players for not playing while we fans pay 100s to 1000s of dollars for tickets.

They wanna get that max contract and play part time hoops. Such a hardworking talent!

Why would I turn up for a Clippers game, when I know that Kawhi might not even play? Good rule.

Bout to tell my manager i need 20 days off the year hopefully they still pay me.

Love how the fans are always mentioned last in these conversations but if we decided to boycott the league it would be wraps for them pretty fast.

Stephen A is definitely on point with this one

65 games is fair thus generation so SOFT, Never heard crying about playing a game you love and make MILLIONS playing back in the 90s and early 2000s and before, If you can’t play 65 of 82 games you’re wack and don’t deserve bonuses and recognition, Fans pay good money to watch you play and this shows yall don’t care, Without FANS it wouldn’t be no NBA!! period, Man I miss MJ, Kobe, Magic, DET bad boys, Boston old school teams, Just those era of basketball period 🤦‍♂️

Kobe really was the last of the real legends.

Chuck is right it should be 70 games.

This rules is made for the fans, if you have problem with that address it to the fans.

Do fans get their money back or is it only owners saving money

A.C. Green played almost every game in his career😅

Steven A laying down facts. This is why I don’t watch NBA anymore. I grew up watching NBA religiously in the 90s, those dudes gave everything they had for this game. It seems that isn’t the case today.

Should be a MINIMUM 70 games. I would say 75 games is fair.

Real talk, number one reason why I don't buy jerseys.

The only way to describe players now are spoiled. They grind for the money, when they get it they take a backseat and enjoy the ride. Its pathetic.

Sign Tony Snell address that dude

AC Green held it down for 16 seasons only missed 5 games, straight up thats true OG

I seen somebody say “these nba players just got limited pto’s now just like us” lol I agree and we get paid a fraction of what they get paid

If i call out of my job 20% of the time i lose my job. Stop crying like a baby.

David Stern would have eventually did the same thing, just sooner

It got so bad I almost stopped watching some prime games last year because I knew ppl would miss... Growing up, in the late 90's and 2000's, 72 games was like oh he is sort of injury prone..now 65-70 games is like the new 82.. lol....and the guys in the past that didn't play 82, I bet most of them played 70-75 games+ in 90% of their seasons, unless they had a severe injury

How you gonna be the mvp of you missed 20% of the season😅 it’s just common sense

Did he just say the game's more physical today? Dude, get off the weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeD!! 🤣😂🤣😂

Dam I played more street ball games a year growing up in the 80’s and 90’s in the Bronx. So many games we played a day and I wasn’t even nice. Different Breed!!!

Many fans have money to maybe take their family to see a game once it twice in their life. I've been to a rest game and the best player was Rudy Fernandez. Stars make a big difference in the NBA. I did not get the product i paid for. Fans pay to see stars and they are paid accordingly. Earn your keep and stop complaining about having to show up to win a lottery every season.

Its not about the owners its about the fans we hate paying hundreds of dollars on tickets for the stars to sit out

Imagine Jordan bitching about playing 65 games in a season. Tyrese is soft

I’m a certified Adam Silver hater but I agree with this new rule.

I literally paid to see the nets Vs lakers and KD AD & LEBRON didn’t play only KYRIE played I left the game after the first quarter

65 game rule should be applied to all players not just to mvp candidates. Like 50% of their salary should be given only when you played at least 65 games.

Ive worked 5 years, never missed a day and not earn even a ¼ of a Million.. These dudes are soft.. 🤷🏾‍♂️

No one is blaming a player if he’s hurt. But tired? Worried about getting hurt? SA has a point.

This might be SAS’s best rant ever. I hate that Halliburton put out that tweet because he was fast becoming my favourite player in the league. Hurts to know that he’s just another entitled brat. To be fair though some “new media” have called these guys out. Gilbert Arenas… Paul Pierce & KG…

Tyrese soft 😂😂

My boss would have laugh at or fire me if I expected to get paid my full salary but be out of work half the time, these dudes make millions playing freaking basketball some are arrogant at the podium and s#$t on fan like we don't support their wallets. SMH

Can't believe I'm saying this but Stephen A is 100% right on this one. The players are so soft and such cry babies in today's game its unbelievable! Whatever happened to going out there and earning your money? These NBA players are acting like entitled girls. Get that chip off your shoulder and go earn it and prove yourself!

this is why i dont ever go to games

Stephen A is amazing when he is right

Hali was only in Sac for one game this season. I was going to spend $300 on tickets to go watch that game. When i found out he wasn’t going to be playing that game I ended up not buying those tickets.

Trust me the players didn't need the old media to get paid they the ones putting on a show they are giving media content and a job to talk about it's not hard to be in a post conference to ask questions and try to get a rise out of players for content 😂 what a 🤡

yall go to the gym workout go to practice go to back to back games all of your bodies will be beat The NBA only cares about money so what new talent will come in so go destroy your body to make us money its a joke all respect to Haliburton for saying this. you all are going to be mad when all of your favorite stars are injured and out of the league.

I agree with SAS on this

65 games is totally fair. They have the best facilities, shoes, nutritionists, everything at their disposal to preserve and take care of their bodies. There’s no way they can’t play 65 games when back then they would play in converse and Jordan 1s and have not have any where near the resources there are now to stay healthy and would still play every game in the season not to mention the added physicality back then.

Bra if you can’t play more that at least 65 games you really don’t deserve the mvp anyways.. now some of the other awards it shouldn’t apply too

Decades ago, players traveled from city to city by BUS, driving overnight nonstop, and stayed in shitty motels. All for an average wage. No massage therapists, no trainers, no special chefs, no first class plush private jets, nothing. And they played all 82 games wearing shitty Converse Chucks. And then had to deal with racism on top of that. These kids today cry and whine about 65 games while having a physical therapist cater to them 24/7 and drinking wine in Lambos and posting pictures of clubs and champagne on Instagram, but they're "load managing" half the season while demanding hundred million dollar contracts. Welcome to LeBron's influence, everyone.

PREACH!

If the players don't like it they can quit and work at Walmart, and if you don't go to work at Walmart you don't get paid, and not only that, even if you show up for work, will you get paid as much as an NBA player, I think not.

I think you can do away with the 65 game rule and do something like a disable list like baseball Where if you're a scratch, you need to be on a 5 or 15 day disable list, where you cannot play any games during that duration So you cannot pick and choose individual games to miss

It's another reason i wont go to games anymore, no way im shellings out $500+ for a night out just to watch my favourite players in street clothes. Let alone the atmosphere problems with games

Ben Simmons was like the biggest robbery of the nba. If he’s smart and invest, dude could be rich for life for doing nothing 🤣

Wilt played 48 minutes than went & finessed 48 queens..every night..😂😂😂

Start paying per game played unless there is a proven injury

DOUBLING DOWN STEPHEN A! I respect you so much more now! Love it man!

The generation of all time

80’ 90’ style ball had heart and soul

Stephen A is right here, like it's literally the players job to go out and pay but they don't want to and want the rewards for free

Lol..NBA might be the only job in the world where the employee is frustrated that needs to come to work in order to get paid, and even more frustrated that needs to come to work to get a bonus.....

But people forget how competitive the game was when the Spurs played the back ups against Lebald and the Heat. They had to go to OT to beat them, they should've thank Pop for not playing the starters and not get embarrassed on national tv! 😅

Can someone tell why the hard-working prayers have to pay for the laziness of uncommitted playes??? When a rule crushes the MVP goal of a hard-working player.... the rule is STUPID.

NBA should change stats from per game to per season than it would be obvious that having 20 or more Games with 0 stats would make this problem even statisticly visible.

A testatment to this soft NBA era.

Certain players tryna have their cake & eat it too

He forgot to say the players are softer than before! 🤨🙄

Only sport work watching nowadays is hockey. Those dudes try and have 82 game season and they play injured half the time

Remove guaranteed contracts make it so that if they don't play they don't get paid for those games missed. Its time to respect the fans hard earned money.

NBA is boring to watch mostly.

@ESPN & Stephen A. Why not LeBron Raymone James! He's played 65+ games 1 time the last 6yrs!!! Call them ALL OUT. Don't leave him out.

Gen Z don’t wanna be better basketball players

The only time Stephen A has been right

Stephen A always pocket watching, this man def Randal from Recess lmmaoo

Tyrese not even 25 complaining

This rule applies to about 40 players, with 15 on All-NBA teams and 10 on All-Defensive teams, plus Most Improved. And they are generally the best compensated players. Yes, Tyrese Haliburton will likely lose the pay bump from 25% to 30% of the salary cap in his contract extension. But if he is bothered by that, he should look in the mirror and then call his agents. He agreed to the contract extension at the end of June, the new rule was announced in mid-April.

If a player sits out a game for "rest" then they should forfeit that games pay

Hands down Stephen A's best Rant to date....

Labron James is an example of someone playing 82 games at age 36,37, etc. Younger players have no excuse. I agree earn your money 💰 😊. Your fans pay allot of money for the tickets cause they appreciate you. 65 games not much to ask for.

How do you want AD to play when he's injured?

I get the aspects of load management but when people talk about Coach Pop… People forget that Tim Duncan played less than 65 Games a year only 3 times (technically five due to the lockout seasons but those don’t count) Manu only four seasons and same with TP…

Great take Stephen A. The general public is so sick of modern day NBA players not playing due to load management or taking off days when they can get on the court, NBA players today don't get it and what they need to do to promote the league or understand what previous players sacrificed to get them their bad in today's NBA salary market. They are spoiled premadonnas who will only hurt their product. Money corrupts, absolutely and they believe they are entitled. Where is the love of the game playing for the right reasons?

Get em Stephen A.

Cooked

Ngl. I don't like it either. 60 games is reasonable. 65 is just too much imho.

I'm not a fan of SAS but man this man seems to be the only one who cares about this, he is super passionate and fighting for all fans and i appreciate it ❤️

Halliburton hasn’t even been in the league long enough for this to affect him like that league getting soft

if they make rules that in the contract period, you make all NBA or get all the other awards, you are eligible for this bonus, then nobody will be mad. I think teams are happy to pay this bonus to keep their stars. after all, it's only certain players can get it.

It shows how NBA players have become the most entitled athletes in sports. The game has become soft compared to previous eras. The "stars" of the league play fewer games. And they demand more money. SMH. What happened to the passion for playing basketball and winning championships?! There's very little team pride. It's become about the individual player. It's all about the money.

Stephen A: Lebron is one of the greatest. How is he still able to do it at his age??? Also Stephen A: Load management is bull$h!t. Dude hasn't connected the dots. Tyrese was talking about injuries but Stephen A clarified that this is NOT about injuries. Seems he can't connect the dots. As for load management, players alsk do it for thr fans. NOBODY enjoys playfoffs❤ (or even the finals) where 2 of the top 3 players of a team are injured. It's unfortunate for the injured team and an unrewarding win for the other team. Maybe Stephen A just needs to take a vacation so he can connect the dots.

Guys have better training, healthcare, facilities, nutrition and more… AND A LESS PHYSICAL GAME… but they can’t play 82 games???

They get the best salary, best support staff for medical, nutrition, conditioning, mental care, recovery... free stuff left and right, free meals, even family care services... Best travel and accommodation, best bonuses, best endorsement deals (side hussles) because of the league. All of that just To do their job and play basketball for the people making all that possible,the fans. And they be crying cause they have to play 65 games that you dont even have to play the whole 48 minutes. Yeah, spoiled brats. Can you imagine them having to work a double shift at the workplace go home and take care of the kids. Most of these guys cant even book their own flight or open a bank account without relying on an assistant.