OKLAHOMA CITY — Luka Dončić has a pathway to end-of-season award eligibility despite falling short of the minimum games threshold, and his agent plans to take it.

Dončić injured his hamstring in the third quarter of Thursday night’s game at Oklahoma City. It was his 64th game of the season, and when the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday announced the injury would keep him out for the rest of the regular season, it guaranteed Dončić would fall short of the NBA’s 65-game threshold to be eligible for key postseason awards such as Most Valuable Player and all-NBA.

But in a statement acquired by The Athletic on Friday, Dončić’s agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, said Dončić plans to appeal for an “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge,” an option that is included in the NBA’s 65-game participation policy. The policy allows players to appeal if they meet a series of factors that include “extraordinary circumstances” where “it was impracticable for him to play in one or more of the Regular Season game(s) that he missed during such Season.”

“Luka has gone to great lengths to show up for his team and this league this season,” Duffy’s statement read, in part. “His record-breaking season deserves to be noted in the history books, despite last night’s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances. We look forward to working with the NBAPA and the league office to ensure a fair outcome in this matter.”

Duffy pointed to two games Dončić missed in Toronto and Boston on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 to return to Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter. The Lakers’ star rejoined his team on Dec. 7 in Philadelphia. Had he played in both the Toronto and Boston games, Dončić would’ve played in 85.7 percent of the Lakers’ games up to and including Thursday’s in Oklahoma City — clearing the threshold for award eligibility.

According to the policy, the Lakers and Dončić can file for the exception starting on the final day of the regular season, then have until the next day to formally submit it. Should a “challenge expert,” chosen jointly by the NBA and NBPA rule in his favor, “the sole remedy shall be that the player is deemed eligible for the Applicable Generally Recognized League Honors.”

Dončić also would have reached 65 games had he not received a mandatory one-game suspension following his 16th technical foul last week, which caused him to miss the Lakers’ win against Washington on Monday.

Dončić is averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game this season for the Lakers, leading the league in scoring while positioning himself as one of the top MVP candidates along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokić. He was considered a favorite for his sixth first-team All-NBA spot after leading the Lakers to a 50-win season before his injury.

He’s the only Western Conference player to win Player of the Month honors twice this season, earning the award in January and March.