{"id":1863906,"date":"2026-04-03T14:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863906"},"modified":"2026-04-03T14:10:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T11:10:33","slug":"luka-doncics-injury-means-the-nba-awards-race-is-officially-a-fiasco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1863906","title":{"rendered":"Luka Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s injury means the NBA awards race is officially a fiasco"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\">The Bounce Newslette<\/b><strong>r<\/strong>\u00a0<span class=\"c-emoji c-emoji__medium c-emoji--inline\" data-qa=\"emoji\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class src=\"https:\/\/a.slack-edge.com\/production-standard-emoji-assets\/14.0\/apple-medium\/1f3c0@2x.png\" alt=\":basketball:\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" aria-label=\"basketball emoji\" data-stringify-type=\"emoji\" data-stringify-emoji=\":basketball:\"><\/span>\u00a0| This is <em>The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0<a class=\"c-link c-link--underline\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/newsletters\/the-bounce\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/newsletters\/the-bounce\/?source=pulsenewsletter&amp;campaign=9178780&amp;userId=10748855\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight, we have the women\u2019s Final Four, with Connecticut playing South Carolina (7 ET) and Texas facing UCLA (9:30), setting the stage for Sunday\u2019s championship game. Tomorrow night, we have the men\u2019s Final Four, with Illinois taking on Connecticut (6:09) and Michigan playing Arizona (8:49) ahead of Monday\u2019s title game. It\u2019s a great weekend for April Madness!<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>Ineligibility crisis<\/h3>\n<p><strong>The 65-game rule looks even dumber now<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How\u2019s the NBA awards race going? Well \u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Pistons announced yesterday that star Cade Cunningham, who has missed the last nine games with a collapsed lung, will be re-evaluated in a week. That means Cunningham has a maximum of two more games he can play this regular season \u2014 if he comes back when the re-evaluation happens. Cunningham would max out at 62 games (that count under the 20-minute threshold to qualify), <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/3400078602a4486f95ad19607403d0ab\/ef4c9d977d2b4551a0e5490b9ba8cf5a\">eliminating him from eligibility for All-NBA and other awards<\/a> under the league\u2019s 65-game minimum rule.<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Edwards missed the Timberwolves\u2019 game in Detroit last night with an illness. He\u2019s played in 59 games, and Minnesota has six games remaining. But in the third game of the season against the Pacers, Edwards left with hamstring tightness after playing a little over three minutes. He\u2019s also <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/d9a9710bf00b42a799c9ed75d5737b0c\/385cf6d4c2244234838f7144bdf108f4\">no longer eligible for All-NBA and other awards<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Also last night, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/d9a9710bf00b42a799c9ed75d5737b0c\/905b2be402334a7eaba9c8d43b8f585e\">exited the Lakers\u2019 loss to the Thunder with a hamstring injury<\/a> after playing 26 minutes. That was his 64th game this season. <strong><strong>If he can\u2019t play again in the next 10 days, he\u2019ll be ineligible too.<\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Joki\u0107 can each only miss one more game the rest of the season to remain eligible for awards like MVP, All-NBA and, in Wemby\u2019s case, Defensive Player of the Year and All-Defense. Deni Avdija can miss one more game to remain eligible for All-NBA and Most Improved Player. Tyrese Maxey needs to play in two more games and Kawhi Leonard in four more to be eligible for the awards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Edwards and Cunningham would have easily made All-NBA without the 65-game rule. Between the 2015-16 season and when the rule was instituted in 2023-24, 16 players logged 64 games or fewer and still earned All-NBA honors. That\u2019s not counting the 2019-20 or 2020-21 pandemic-shortened seasons. Sixty players in league history have made All-NBA in non-truncated seasons despite playing 64 or fewer games.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>NBA commissioner Adam Silver <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/3d0bd70b294d4569be91e08fa508e8c6\/634ea519ce674f878efdb59c67daaecf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">addressed the 65-game rule criticism<\/a>after last week\u2019s Board of Governors meeting and said it was only affecting one player (Cunningham). He might want to check his math regarding this stupid rule<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"Z2hHRtVlAOvBLnt\" data-horizontal=\"16\" data-vertical=\"9\" data-restricted-countries=\"BI,BY,CD,CF,CU,IQ,IR,KP,LB,LY,ML,NI,RU,SD,SO,SS,SY,UA,VE,YE,ZW\" data-restricted-countries-mode=\"block\" data-thumbnail-url style=\"padding:0\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:56.25%\"><\/div>\n<p>      <span data-type=\"application\/dash+xml\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/Z2hHRtVlAOvBLnt\/6CHTqj5oZd1m\/6CHTqj5oZd1m.mpd\"><\/span><br \/>\n      <span data-type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/Z2hHRtVlAOvBLnt\/6CHTqj5oZd1m\/6CHTqj5oZd1m.m3u8\"><\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<hr>\n<h3>The last 24<\/h3>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc0 <strong>Gap year. <\/strong>After making Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, the Pacers are 18-58. David Aldridge takes an <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/460f0872874a4c9991e96dd5e11220ce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inside look at Indiana\u2019s humbling season<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfa3 Big fish? <\/strong>The Mavericks are looking for a marquee name to be their next GM. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/73e0c186e56540e2bc0dda516226f26a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Can they reel one in<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\ude9a <strong>Get moving? <\/strong>Draymond Green has said the Grizzlies should move to Nashville. <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/f9a59411283548e7960e02f27e6f424a\"><strong>LeBron James agrees with him<\/strong><\/a><strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfc6 Get defensive. <\/strong>Perimeter defense is nearly impossible to play these days. <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/ea34e735b514406cbfd06c1f59987805\"><strong>Fred Katz is rewarding the best at it<\/strong><\/a><strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udc7d Bon chance! <\/strong>Artemis II astronauts took off yesterday on a new moon mission. <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/65e40800851c445897b5de833b4c5cf4\"><strong>Wemby wished them good luck<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfc0 Playoffs? <\/strong>If the playoffs started today \u2026 we\u2019d all be very confused.<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/931c0971f34c4d5d95e797fbd2d4ec81\">But these would be the matchups<\/a>! <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Stream the NBA on Fubo (<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/a57dd583812840538a8ff7ceb4d63f92\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">try it for free!<\/a>)<\/em><em>\u00a0and catch out-of-market games on\u00a0<\/em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/z\/c\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/c4522f09d4ee487a99bccb622f7128ad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">League Pas<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>About last night<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Thunder put a big hurt on the Lakers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Thunder 139, Lakers 96: <\/strong>This <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/4970a030855e4d76a9e6509d93454b57\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was a bludgeoning<\/a>! From the start. In what was supposed to be a showdown of two of the hottest teams in the NBA, the Thunder reminded the Lakers that there are levels to this contention thing. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 28 points, and, as noted above, the Lakers got a big scare with Luka\u2019s hamstring injury. The Thunder were up 35 in the second quarter and led by as many as 46. They also had 32 fast-break points.<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"snTRK1aKz5JVyGG\" data-horizontal=\"9\" data-vertical=\"16\" data-restricted-countries=\"BI,BY,CD,CF,CU,IQ,IR,KP,LB,LY,ML,NI,RU,SD,SO,SS,SY,UA,VE,YE,ZW\" data-restricted-countries-mode=\"block\" data-thumbnail-url style=\"padding:0\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:764px\"><\/div>\n<p>      <span data-type=\"application\/dash+xml\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/snTRK1aKz5JVyGG\/K4Ytdbe2vtcp\/K4Ytdbe2vtcp.mpd\"><\/span><br \/>\n      <span data-type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/snTRK1aKz5JVyGG\/K4Ytdbe2vtcp\/K4Ytdbe2vtcp.m3u8\"><\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<p><strong>Pistons 113, Wolves 108: <\/strong>Jalen Duren had 22 points and 14 rebounds. Daniss Jenkins led the Pistons with 26 points. And Detroit <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/3f190c7987ca4a258085cea4b05edb0d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">improved to 8-2 since Cunningham went down<\/a> with the collapsed lung (counting the game he left early). The Pistons\u2019 magic number for securing the No. 1 seed in the East is one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Spurs 118, Clippers 99: <\/strong>De\u2019Aaron Fox had 22 points, Stephon Castle had 20 and Dylan Harper added 19 off the bench. That was enough to overcome 24 points from Kawhi Leonard, as the Spurs shut down the Clippers, even though Wemby did not play. This dropped LA (39-38) to ninth in the West.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hornets 127, Suns 107: <\/strong>LaMelo Ball had 15 points, 11 assists and zero turnovers, and Kon Knueppel put in 20 points. The Hornets (41-36) are now half a game ahead of Orlando and a full game ahead of Miami for eighth in the East. They\u2019re a game and a half behind Philadelphia and Toronto for sixth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cavs 118, Warriors 111: <\/strong>Donovan Mitchell (25), Max Strus (24) and James Harden (19) outdueled Brandon Podziemski (25), Gui Santos (25) and Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is (16). Why was this game so close? The Cavs gave up 50 points in the paint and 23 points off 15 turnovers. Cleveland (48-29) is a game behind the Knicks for third in the East.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Blazers 118, Pelicans 106: <\/strong>Technically, not a Dunk Tank game, because the Pelicans do not benefit from tanking since they don\u2019t own their draft pick. They\u2019re just bad! Jrue Holiday (27), Avdija (26) and Toumani Camara combined for 76 points to move Portland (40-38) a half game ahead of the Clippers for eighth in the West.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Let\u2019s head to the Dunk Tank!\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There weren\u2019t any games for the Dunk Tank last night, but the Washington Wizards find themselves there anyway. On a day they didn\u2019t play. Why? They were one of many teams to do some hacky April Fool\u2019s stuff during their games. I might just be an April Fool\u2019s Day Grinch or something, but it\u2019s truly one of the least creative and least funny days of the year.<\/p>\n<p>The Wizards had a \u201cfan\u201d shoot a half-court shot blindfolded, and he missed because of course he did. They had the arena pretend like he made the shot, and the video went viral. It wasn\u2019t real, though. Not that it was some stupid AI video \u2014 this was all rehearsed. A good rule of thumb is, whenever there\u2019s some in-arena entertainment that involves purposefully embarrassing \u201ca fan,\u201d you can bet that\u2019s an employee or a paid actor.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid3\" data-position=\"mid3\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Because this video went viral, for some reason the Wizards felt the need to <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/9b6c2522c39949b2a118edf666c251cf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issue a public mea culpa<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe apologize for last night\u2019s April Fools\u2019 joke that left many wondering if we had misled a fan. The skit involving our mascot and other members of our performance team was scripted and intended to celebrate the day. All participants were in on the joke, but we missed the mark. Our fans are our priority, and we continue to be committed to providing a positive experience to all who attend our games.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Why are you apologizing? That\u2019s so unnecessary. Is that part of the April Fool\u2019s joke too? Is this some performance-art apology I\u2019m just too dumb to get? The team is 17-59, and in its last two seasons has had the lowest net ratings (minus-11.4 and minus-12.2) since the 7-59 Charlotte Bobcats in 2011-12 (minus-15.0). I\u2019m not sure you\u2019re <em>that <\/em>committed to providing a positive experience just yet. <strong>That\u2019s a Tank score of 10\/10 on a day you didn\u2019t even play.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>Expansion draft!<\/h3>\n<p><strong>All about the WNBA\u2019s big dispersal day<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The WNBA season tips off on May 8. This season, the league is adding the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo as the 14th and 15th teams. Those two squads need players, and <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/fd21df413b2043b888085e23f57962f7\">the <\/a>WNBA expansion draft <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/45cf19f41397452d9e8cafb5a23a7bf7\">happens today at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN<\/a>. I couldn\u2019t think of anybody better to break down what to expect from this draft than <em>The Athletic<\/em>\u2019s Sabreena Merchant. Here\u2019s our Q&amp;A!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bounce: <\/strong>We just had an expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries last year. Was their successful first season mostly due to that draft?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>Golden State found an All-Star and the most improved player in the expansion draft, capitalizing on undervalued players on deeper rosters. But the key to their success was likely the culture established by coach of the year Natalie Nakase, who came over from Las Vegas after winning two titles with the Aces.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bounce: <\/strong>Who are the biggest and best players expected to be available?<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid4\" data-position=\"mid4\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>We can\u2019t know for sure because teams weren\u2019t required to make their protected lists public, but the best player I expect to be available is Arike Ogunbowale. Dallas is building around Paige Bueckers, and that could mean moving on from the four-time All-Star. Here\u2019s my full list of <a href=\"https:\/\/links.e1.nytimes.com\/a\/zc\/5037\/88cda5af799e44cfb08d124fa2c02eaa\/29dc57fffd5a44f883d681dff0f4c4b5\">the 15 top available expansion pickups<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bounce: <\/strong>With two teams drafting now, is it reasonable to expect a Valkyries level of success right away from either Portland or Toronto?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sabreena: <\/strong>The addition of two teams is going to make the dispersal of talent a little bit more complicated, and it\u2019ll be harder to build a competitive roster, especially because the playoff field is still only eight teams. The expansion teams will have an easier path in free agency because more than 100 veterans are unrestricted, but I\u2019m not sure either team will want to be competitive right away. The 2027 draft should be incredible, headlined by Texas\u2019 Madison Booker, Notre Dame\u2019s Hannah Hidalgo and maybe USC\u2019s JuJu Watkins. Both Portland and Toronto could decide to stealth tank for a season before getting a franchise cornerstone in next year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bounce Newsletter\u00a0\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. Tonight, we have the women\u2019s Final Four, with Connecticut playing South Carolina (7 ET) and Texas facing UCLA (9:30), setting the stage for Sunday\u2019s championship game. Tomorrow night, we have the men\u2019s Final Four, with Illinois [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1863906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1863906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1863906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1863906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1863906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1863906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}