The Los Angeles Lakers enter their first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets without Luka Doncic, who is out indefinitely with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain suffered on April 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While some sources hope he might return for Games 3, 4, or 5, the team officially says they don’t expect him back during the first round. Amid the injury uncertainty, the NBA and NBPA issued a major ruling on Thursday that significantly impacts the awards race.

The NBA and NBPA have ruled in favor of Doncic and Detroit Pistons Cade Cunningham on their Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge for the 65-game award rule, making both eligible for all 2025-26 season honors, such as MVP and All-NBA teams, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Doncic won the “Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge” because two of his missed games came when he flew to Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter in early December. Without his mandatory one-game suspension for accumulating 16 technical fouls, Doncic would have already cleared the 65-game threshold entirely.

Cunningham also had a strong case for an award exception. On March 17, he suffered a collapsed lung just five minutes into his 61st game of the season. His agent, Jeff Schwartz, called the league’s 65-game minimum “arbitrary” and “rigid.”

Schwartz argued that the league should reward excellence rather than enforce strict quotas that ignore serious medical injuries. Cunningham ultimately returned for the final three games of the regular season, finishing with 64 total appearances.

Their impressive stat also helped them a lot to get this special favor. The Slovenian star led the league with 33.5 points per game while averaging 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds before his injury setback.

Cunningham put up 23.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game this season. His 9.9 assists are the second-best this season. Plus, his 2,172 total minutes exceeded those of several players who qualified under the 65-game rule but played fewer minutes per game.

The players’ union had been critical of the rule on March 24, calling Cunningham’s potential disqualification an “indictment” of a system that uses an “arbitrary and overly rigid quota” to punish deserving players.

So, this favor restores Doncic’s name for a tight MVP race with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, while ensuring Cunningham can be voted onto All-NBA teams for his role in leading Detroit to their first 50-win season since 2008.

However, unlike Doncic and Cunningham, Minnesota Timberwolves‘ Anthony Edwards had his challenge denied by an independent arbitrator and remains ineligible for season awards. His snub might start controversy, though his case differed from the other two’s.

Commissioner Adam Silver has defended the policy, noting that any cutoff will inevitably leave some players on the wrong side of it. However, with so many top stars affected this year, the league may have to renegotiate the 65-game rule sooner than expected.

Related: On This Date: Michael Jordan Joined Wilt Chamberlain With Historic 3,000-Point Season

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Apr 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.