The NBA (National Basketball Association) has made an extraordinary rule change for Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham.
According to The Big Lead, Los Angeles Lakers star and Detroit Pistons Cade Cunningham will be eligible for postseason awards despite not playing the bare-minimum 65 games this NBA season.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported April 16 that the NBA and its players’ union have approved the two players’ petition to be eligible for postseason awards based on their Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge.
As a result, Doncic and Cunningham are eligible for the MVP award and All-NBA teams.
Doncic leads the NBA in scoring this season at 33.5 points per game. But he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in his 64th game of the season, leaving him one short of the minimum needed to qualify for the MVP and other postseason honors.
The rule effectively exists as an incentive for teams to put their best players on the court late in the season, regardless of whether they have clinched a postseason berth or not.
The Lakers are still hoping to have Doncic for the playoffs even though he has not played since April 2.
As for Cunningham, who averaged 23.9 points and 9.9 assists in 64 games, he missed a significant stretch of time (March 18 to April 7) with a collapsed lung.
Edwards appeared in 61 games during the regular season. The four-time All-Star was among several players who took “maintenance days” down the stretch after the Timberwolves clinched a playoff berth.
After injuring his knee, Edwards missed 11 out of 13 games to end the season. He finished the regular season with 28.8 points per game, finishing 12th in the NBA field goals made despite the time off.
