Kevin Durant played nearly 2800 minutes over 75 games this season. The minutes were the most Durant has played since he led the NBA in 2013-14.
The most Durant has played in 10 years? Sheesh.
Is it a coincidence that so many stars (especially older stars) are playing their most games in several years?
Durant - most games since 2014
Kawhi - most games since 2017
Curry - most games since 2017
Ingram - most games since 2017
AD - most games since 2018
LeBron - most games since 2018
VanVleet - most games since 2018
Giannis - most games since 2018
DeRozan - most games since 2018
Dejounte Murray - most games since 2018
Harden - most games since 2019
Lillard - most games since 2019
Jokic - most games since 2019 (to be fair, didn't miss a game in '20 or '21).
Paul George - most games since 2019
Jaylen Brown - most games since 2019
Sabonis - most games ever (first time playing all 82, but played 81, 79, 74 x2 in the past).
Luka - most games since 2019
Siakam - most games since 2019
Gobert - most games since 2019
SGA - most games since 2019
Zion - most games ever
Other stars went from under the 65 game threshold last year, to over this year:
Booker
Maxey
Jaren Jackson Jr
Halliburton
To be fair, 2020 (64-75 games depending on team) and 2021 (72 games) were shortened seasons.
High level it seems like the 65 game award threshold is working, but it could also just be a coincidence amplified by a couple of Covid seasons tanking previous results.
Doing another high level search, number of players playing 65 or more games by season:
2024 184
2023 180
2022 175
2021 short season
2020 short season
2019 200
2018 219
2017 230
2016 226
2015 211
2014 216
Only a small tick up from last year, but still well below pre-2020 results. So maybe it is just a coincidence. Or maybe at least the stars are now motivated to take fewer rest days?