{"id":712083,"date":"2026-04-16T23:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712083\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T23:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:46:20","slug":"doncic-cunningham-eligible-for-nba-awards-after-successful-appeals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/712083\/","title":{"rendered":"Doncic, Cunningham eligible for NBA awards after successful appeals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> ‘ Luka Doncic and Detroit Pistons<\/a> ‘ Cade Cunningham will be eligible for awards such as MVP and All-NBA this season despite falling short of the 65-game minimum<\/a>, the league and the National Basketball Players Association said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Doncic played in 64 games and Cunningham played in 63. But the league and the union both agreed that each should be on the ballot based on the \u201cextraordinary circumstances provision\u201d in the collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n

Doncic \u2014 who is one of the favorites to contend for MVP honors after winning the league\u2019s scoring title \u2014 missed two games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia. Cunningham missed 12 games as a result of a collapsed lung that was diagnosed on March 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Doncic, each player qualified for awards,\u201d the league and the union said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Doncic, in a statement posted to social media, said he is \u201cgrateful to the NBPA for advocating on my behalf and to the NBA for their fair decision,\u201d adding that it was important to him \u201cto be present for the birth of my daughter in December.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis season has been so special to me because of what my teammates and I have been able to accomplish, and I am honored to have the opportunity to be considered for the league\u2019s end-of-season awards,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s Anthony Edwards<\/a>, who played in 60 qualified games, also tried to get on the awards ballot through the extraordinary circumstances challenge \u2014 but sought his approval before an independent arbitrator. His challenge was denied.<\/p>\n

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch \u2014 noting that Edwards doesn\u2019t get held out to rest \u2014 was not pleased about that and said he\u2019d like an explanation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure why we have a rule if we have an appeal process that is overturned in two-thirds of the cases that were held before,\u201d Finch said. \u201cFeels more like a suggestion than a rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statuses of Doncic and Cunningham were a major topic toward the end of the season. San Antonio\u2019s Victor Wembanyama \u2014 an MVP candidate and the likely defensive player of the year \u2014 got to the 65-game mark<\/a> in the Spurs\u2019 next-to-last game, and Denver\u2019s three-time MVP Nikola Jokic became qualified for this year\u2019s awards on the final day of the regular season. Jokic has been first or second in MVP balloting in each of the last five seasons and won the league\u2019s rebounding and assist titles this season.<\/p>\n

And the union \u2014 which worked with the league to come up with the 65-game policy \u2014 has said it wants the rule changed, saying it was put into place to address load management and not to keep deserving players from awards. That said, many players have spoken out in favor of the rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say it\u2019s an opportunity for us to reevaluate the rule in itself,\u201d NBPA President Fred VanVleet of the Houston Rockets said.<\/p>\n

VanVleet \u2014 speaking in a video posted by the union and filmed ahead of Thursday\u2019s news \u2014 said he thinks voters should be able to make decisions for All-NBA and other awards on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

Nuggets coach David Adelman said last week that he hopes the 65-game rule is changed, somehow, this summer. He said if players like Jokic can play 64 games, never wanting to come out, and not be award-eligible, then something is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the spirit of what that rule is,\u201d Adelman said.<\/p>\n

A number of players will be ineligible for most major individual awards this season because of the 65-game rule, including the Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 LeBron James \u2014 whose 21-year streak of making an All-NBA team will end. Milwaukee\u2019s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Golden State\u2019s Stephen Curry have also missed too many games to be eligible.<\/p>\n

With the decisions on Doncic, Cunningham and Edwards now complete, the NBA sent ballots to the panel of reporters and broadcasters who cover the league on Thursday \u2014 a few days behind the typical schedule from recent years.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear when the announcement of award winners will begin.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers ‘ Luka Doncic and Detroit Pistons ‘ Cade Cunningham will be eligible for awards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[375,7,909,160,2026,250,188,866,123,79023,185,150,368,584,1739,307,11104,6,446,253,66,573,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-712083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-anthony-edwards","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cade-cunningham","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-chris-finch","13":"tag-david-adelman","14":"tag-detroit-pistons","15":"tag-fred-vanvleet","16":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","17":"tag-labor-unions","18":"tag-lebron-james","19":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","20":"tag-luka-doncic","21":"tag-mi-state-wire","22":"tag-michigan","23":"tag-minnesota","24":"tag-national-basketball-players-association","25":"tag-nba","26":"tag-nba-basketball","27":"tag-nikola-jokic","28":"tag-sports","29":"tag-stephen-curry","30":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116417055358692811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}