NBA has a massive Victor Wembanyama-sized problem they must solve ASAP

The San Antonio Spurs are happy to have star Victor Wembanyama back after missing 12 games with a calf strain. That means the Spurs are back at full strength, though it could cost Wembanyama some hardware.

He can only miss five games and still win Defensive Player of the Year or make All-NBA thanks to the NBA's 65-games-played rule. The NBA meant well when they first introduced the 65-game minimum rule, meant to incentivize the league's top players to play.

The problem is that with calf strains on the rise, teams can't afford to rush their top players back or risk them suffering a catastrophic season-ending injury. That would be worse for the league and means that they should repeal the well-meaning but awful rule.

The NBA has a Victor Wembanyama problem they must solve

Despite leading the league in blocks per game and total blocks last season, in only 43 games, Wembanyama was barred from winning Defensive Player of the Year or All-NBA. Now, he could very well be screwed out of both awards again.

As a result, Wembanyama should have rap beef with Adam Silver and the NBA. While we're at it, so should LeBron James, who can miss just one more game before being unable to make his record 22nd straight All-NBA team.

The NBA can't afford to alienate their best players—you see what I did there. So I fully expect that the league will repeal the rule after this season, paving the way for the reign of Wembanyama.

The 65-games-played threshold is doing more harm than good

It's not just to his benefit either. Many of the games' top players won't be eligible for an end-of-season award or All-NBA, yet those accolades are major factors in contract incentives and even voting when it comes to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Wembanyama would have two fewer All-NBA selections and two fewer Defensive Player of the Year awards as a result of this rule. And while he will hopefully rack up plenty over a long career with the Spurs, it seems to be negatively impacting him the most.

That is no way to treat the next potential face of the NBA. It's also just a bad rule. Yes, incentivizing players to play makes sense, but it can also negatively incentivize players to play when they aren't actually healthy enough to do so.

Load management is a problem for the NBA; that is definitely true, but so is players missing significant time due to injuries. Having them rush back to reach an arbitrary games-played threshold and risk further injury seems like a terrible idea.

Therefore, the NBA should repeal the 65-games-played rule, which would happen to benefit Wembanyama in addition to several other stars.