NBA’s 65-game rule: Where Cade Cunningham, Kawhi Leonard, other award candidates stand

Everybody seems to hate the 65-game rule, which stipulates that players need to play at least that many regular-season games to qualify for end-of-season awards (with a few exceptions). “I feel like it hurts guys,” Detroit Pistons big man Isaiah Stewart told me 10 days ago. Three days later, Stewart strained his left calf, which immediately took him out of the running for Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defense. Six days after that, the Pistons announced that Cade Cunningham had been diagnosed with a collapsed lung. If Cunningham doesn’t return by April 4, he won’t be eligible for Most Valuable Player or All-NBA.

Given the Cunningham news and the fact that the final day of the regular season is only 23 days away, it’s time to take a look at how the 65-game rule is affecting awards races. First, some notes:

• The rule does not apply to Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie or Clutch Player of the Year.
• In this context, a “game” means a game in which the player in question logs at least 20 minutes. The player is granted a maximum of two additional “games” in which he logs at least 15 and fewer than 20 minutes.
• A player will be deemed awards-eligible if he plays in at least 62 regular-season games and then suffers a season-ending injury, provided that, prior to suffering the injury, those 62–64 games represented at least 85% of his team’s regular-season games.

You probably already know that Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James will not qualify. The point of this exercise is to look at who else has quietly been disqualified and how much wiggle room the still-eligible awards candidates have.

Most Valuable Player/All-NBA Teams

Not everyone mentioned in this section is an MVP candidate, but I figured I’d group these two categories together because every realistic MVP candidate should also be a lock for All-NBA (if eligible).

The overview:

• Kawhi Leonard has only one game of wiggle room remaining after missing the Los Angeles Clippers‘ loss against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday with a sprained left ankle.
• On Thursday, the Pistons announced that Cunningham would be reevaluated in two weeks. If that happens exactly two weeks later, then the examination will take place on April 2. If he’s cleared to return and wants to maintain his awards eligibility, then he’ll have only two days to ramp up before Detroit’s game against the Philadelphia 76ers on April 4. From that point on, the Pistons have no back-to-backs, but they play every other night. (Cunningham could play in between 15 and 20 minutes in two of those games.)
• Anthony Edwards is dealing with right knee inflammation, and the Minnesota Timberwolves announced on Tuesday that he’d be reevaluated in one to two weeks. In order for him to be awards-eligible, he has to come back by March 30, the day of their game against the Dallas Mavericks. That’s 13 days after Minnesota’s announcement. After that Mavs game, Minnesota will have two back-to-backs on the schedule, and Edwards will have to play in every game to maintain his eligibility unless he returns sooner.
• Tyrese Maxey has a sprained tendon in his right pinky finger, and the Philadelphia 76ers announced on March 10 that he’d be sidelined for three weeks. If he misses exactly three weeks, he’ll be back at the beginning of April, with seven games left on the schedule. To qualify for All-NBA, he needs to play only four more games, but, for the sake of the Sixers’ playoff/play-in positioning, they’re surely hoping he’ll end up closer to the 70-game mark.
• When Nikola Jokić returned from a 16-game absence on Jan. 30, it left him with only a one-game buffer for the rest of the season. He hasn’t missed any time since that knee injury. 
• In the last two-and-a-half months, Victor Wembanyama has missed only one game, a March 12 loss against Denver in which he sat with ankle soreness. Still, he can’t miss more than two games the rest of the way without being disqualified from end-of-season awards.
• In late February and early March, Deni Avdija missed six games because of a back injury, and he returned just in time to keep his eligibility alive. He can’t miss a single game the rest of the season, though, and can only log one more game between 15 and 20 minutes.
• Devin Booker appeared to sprain his ankle at the end of the Phoenix Suns‘ loss against the Spurs on Thursday. If he misses time, it will have no affect on his All-NBA eligibility — the hip injury he dealt with last month knocked him out of the running. 
• Pascal Siakam hasn’t played since March 8 due to a sprained right knee, and he has no timetable to return. He was an All-Star this season, but if he misses the Indiana Pacers‘ next three games, he won’t be eligible for All-NBA.
• Can Evan Mobley sneak onto the All-NBA Third Team with a strong finish? It’s theoretically possible, but he can’t miss more than two more games. 

The full picture:

Defensive Player of the Year/All-Defensive Teams

Same logic here as the previous section: The list of DPOY candidates is pretty short, and all of them should obviously make All-Defense if they meet the criteria for eligibility.

The overview:

• Wembanyama has said he wants to win MVP and DPOY, and he’s a strong frontrunner for the latter. As covered above, though, he must play in at least 10 of San Antonio’s 12 remaining games to remain eligible. 
• With Stewart out of the mix, Ausar Thompson is definitively the best remaining DPOY/All-Defense candidate representing the Pistons, who have the league’s second-best defense. Thompson recently missed five games because of a right ankle sprain, and he came back with enough time to remain eligible … provided that he misses no more than one game the rest of the way.
• Draymond Green was a late scratch in the Golden State Warriors‘ loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves last Friday, and the Warriors rested him on the front half of a back-to-back two days later. If he’s going to make his 10th All-Defensive Team, Green must play in 12 of Golden State’s 13 remaining games. There are three back-to-backs left on the schedule, including one this weekend.
• Stephon Castle missed the Spurs’ win against the Suns on Thursday due to right hip tightness. San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson told reporters that he doesn’t expect Castle to be out long, which means his All-Defense eligibility is likely not in jeopardy. He has to play in only seven of the team’s 12 remaining games to qualify for end-of-season awards.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder rested Lu Dort on the second half of a back-to-back against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. To maintain his eligibility, Dort must play at least 20 minutes in 10 of OKC’s 12 remaining games.
• When OG Anunoby returned from a four-game absence due to a right toenail avulsion — ugh, it feels bad just to type that — in February, he gave himself a two-game buffer. Anunoby has not missed a game since.  
• Mobley, last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, missed some time with a calf strain earlier this season, but he’s still awards-eligible, as long as he misses no more than two games from here on out. 

The full picture:

Most Improved Player

I can’t decide whether MIP is my favorite or least favorite race. It’s definitely the most chaotic, with a ton of interesting candidates who have totally different résumés. Below is a broad list of candidates, including players you might think are too established or too young to deserve consideration.

The overview:

• Avdija was the frontrunner for much of the season, but Duren is now the betting favorite, in part due to Avdija’s back injury and his relative inefficiency since returning from it. There is time for Avdija to make a late-season push, but he has no wiggle room whatsoever. One more absence and he’s out.
• Michael Porter Jr. is out. The Brooklyn Nets announced Thursday that he has a strained left hamstring and will be evaluated in two to three weeks. Given that he has already missed 15 games, that announcement took him out of the running.
• Keyonte George is out, too. The Utah Jazz guard strained his right hamstring on March 11, an injury that came with a return-to-play timetable of at least two weeks. He’d have to come back for their game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday and play in every game after that to maintain eligibility, but that’s not happening.
• On Feb. 23, the Phoenix Suns announced that Dillon Brooks would be sidelined for four to six weeks after having surgery on his broken left hand. That effectively ended his MIP campaign.
• As covered above, while Castle missed the Spurs’ most recent game, he’s still in a good spot when it comes to awards eligibility, as he still has five games of wiggle room.
• Anthony Black has barely played in March and is still sidelined with a left abdominal strain. To maintain eligibility, he must return by April 3. 
• Detroit guard Daniss Jenkins has played in 59 games this season, but he has only logged 20-plus minutes in 23 of them. His emergence is a great story, but he has never been a realistic candidate because of the minutes stipulation.  
• Moussa Diabaté of the Charlotte Hornets is in the same position as Jenkins. The big man has played in 62 of the 70 games that Charlotte has played, but he played 20-plus minutes in only 48 of them. 

The full picture: