Both Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham will be eligble for awards after an NBA ruling
Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham have been granted exemptions from the NBA’s 65-game eligibility threshold for end-of-season awards, after the league and the National Basketball Players Association agreed that both players qualified under an extraordinary circumstances clause – while Anthony Edwards was denied the same treatment.
The developments have thrown renewed scrutiny on a rule that has divided opinion all season, with several of the league’s biggest names, including LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry and Devin Booker, all falling short of the 65-game minimum and missing out on award consideration entirely.
Doncic and Cunningham Given Green Light
Doncic played in 64 qualified games of 20 minutes or more during the regular season, with two absences in December attributed to travelling for the birth of his daughter abroad.
Cunningham, meanwhile, played 63 qualified games after suffering a collapsed lung in mid-March that cost him 12 games. He did appear in a 64th game but logged only five minutes against Washington on March 17.
Rather than send the cases to arbitration, the NBA and NBPA agreed to waive the rule for both men.
“The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Doncic, each player qualified for awards,” the league and union said in a joint statement.
Doncic expressed his gratitude in a post to X. “I am grateful to the NBPA for advocating on my behalf and to the NBA for their fair decision,” he wrote.
“It was so important to me to be present for the birth of my daughter in December, and I appreciate Mark, Jeanie, Rob, JJ, and the entire Lakers organization for fully supporting me and allowing me to travel to be there.
“This season has been so special to me because of what my teammates and I have been able to accomplish, and I am honoured to have the opportunity to be considered for the league’s end-of-season awards.”
Edwards Denied
The outcome was starkly different for Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who played in 60 games this season after missing time with an infection.
Edwards took the route of challenging the rule via arbitration, but the arbitrator denied his case, leaving him ineligible for awards.
The decision drew a pointed response from his business manager Justin Holland. “Anthony and I appreciate the PA appealing his case,” Holland said.
“For me personally, I’m a bit confused at the clemency for Cade who missed time for something that happened on the court, and not Ant, who missed time for an infection, but ultimately you already know Ant isn’t trippin over it AT ALL.”
The 65-game threshold, introduced in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement to address load management concerns, has been one of the most debated topics of the 2025-26 season.
Victor Wembanyama squeezed in his 65th game in the penultimate fixture of the regular season, and Nikola Jokic did not reach the mark until the final day.
Denver Nuggets coach David Adelman has called for reform. “That’s not the spirit of what that rule is,” he said last week, arguing that if a player like Jokic can play 64 games without ever wanting to come out and still miss award eligibility, something needs to change.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, however, pushed back. “I think it is working,” Silver said at last month’s board of governors press conference. “Almost a third of the All-NBA players had not played 80% of the games in the three years before we adopted this rule. That was a huge issue for the league. You see them on the floor now.”
