The Dallas Mavericks will have to figure out life without superstar point guard in Luka Doncic for at least a month. The five-time First-Team All-NBA guard, who was well on his way to earn another First Team nod, picked up a left calf strain injury during Dallas’ 105-99 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Christmas Day.
Doncic is expected to miss at least the next 15 games, and that’s a positive view of the situation depending on the severity. His absence cannot be understated on a Mavericks team whose whole identity revolves around Doncic’s wizardry on offense, not only with his scoring, but how he orchestrates the entire game by setting his teammates up for some of the easiest shot selections you’ll see around the league. The silver lining for the Mavericks is that this is without a doubt the best team assembled around Doncic, and so far the team has gone 6-3 without him, hinting that things may not be all doom in gloom for Dallas, even in a highly competitive Western Conference.
But Doncic’s injury brings up another important talking point. With the 15 games Doncic is expected to miss, on top of the eight he’s already been sidelined this season due to a heel contusion and wrist sprain, he will be ineligible for major end-of-season awards like MVP and the All-NBA teams. At this rate, Doncic winning MVP was already a long shot given the slow start he got out to, but he was rounding into typical MVP-contender form in December to suggest he could’ve finished at least in the top five of voting.
For this discussion, though, let’s focus on All-NBA. If Doncic plays 59 games, which is the most available remaining including a 15-game absence, is he not worthy of All-NBA consideration? The 25-year-old superstar has been a First Team All-NBA selection going back to his second year in the league. He’s made First Team All-NBA in a season where he played just 61 games, but because of the league’s new rules, which requires players to participate in at least 65 games to be eligible for awards like All-NBA, Doncic won’t even be in contention for any of the three teams.
I understand why the NBA felt it needed to institute a requirement for prestigious honors like making All-NBA teams. We can agree that some of the load management that was running rampant around the league the last few years was a problem that needed solving. And to some extent that’s happened. With the fines that teams can incur from resting non-injured players for missing nationally televised games, coupled with putting parameters around making All-NBA teams and winning MVP, it has incentivized players from sitting out often just for rest purposes.
But situations like Doncic’s are where these rules fail. There’s no way that at season’s end, if Doncic finishes out healthy and is operating at his MVP-caliber self, that he shouldn’t be on an All-NBA team. The 65-game threshold wasn’t put in place to punish players for getting injured, but rather incentivize those who choose to sit out multiple games when they are healthy.
It also has major ramifications for a player’s bank account, too. We almost saw Tyrese Haliburton miss out on an extra $40 million this season because he almost didn’t make an All-NBA team due to a hamstring strain that forced him to miss 13 games. Haliburton ended up playing 69 games last season and made Third Team All-NBA last season, but he called the 65-game minimum rule “stupid” because it doesn’t account for injuries.
If the league keeps this in place, we’re going to look back at some of these All-NBA teams and realize they’re not an honest indicator of who the best 15 players in the league were that season. I’m not sure what the solution is here, maybe only applying the 65-game minimum to First Team All-NBA, allowing someone like Doncic, or anyone else who misses 15 or 25 games, to still be eligible for those honors. There obviously has to be some parameters put in place, perhaps 45-50 games would be a better yardstick to measure the Second and Third Teams.
We’re only in Year 2 of this rule, and it’s obvious that some adjustments should be made.
