{"id":1864595,"date":"2026-04-03T20:13:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864595"},"modified":"2026-04-03T20:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:13:35","slug":"how-luka-doncic-could-still-be-eligible-for-nba-awards-without-playing-65-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864595","title":{"rendered":"How Luka Don\u010di\u0107 could still be eligible for NBA awards without playing 65 games"},"content":{"rendered":"
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OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 has a pathway to end-of-season award eligibility despite falling short of the minimum games threshold.<\/p>\n

According to the NBA\u2019s 65-game participation policy, players can appeal for an \u201cExtraordinary Circumstances Challenge\u201d if they meet a series of factors that include \u201cextraordinary circumstances\u201d where \u201cit was impracticable for him to play in one or more of the Regular Season game(s) that he missed during such Season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Don\u010di\u0107 missed the Lakers\u2019 games in Toronto and Boston on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5 to return to Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter. He rejoined the Lakers on Dec. 7 in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

In his 64th game of the season Thursday, Don\u010di\u0107 suffered a hamstring injury<\/a> in the third quarter, limping off the court and directly to the locker room. He didn\u2019t return to the game and underwent MRI testing on the injured left hamstring Friday afternoon. The Lakers later announced<\/a> Don\u010di\u0107 would miss the rest of the regular season, ensuring that he will not reach the 65-game threshold.<\/p>\n

Had he played in both the Toronto and Boston games, Don\u010di\u0107 would\u2019ve played in 85.7 percent of the Lakers\u2019 games up to and including Thursday\u2019s in Oklahoma City \u2014 clearing the threshold for award eligibility. Don\u010di\u0107 also would have reached 65 games had he not received a mandatory one-game suspension following his 16th technical foul last week, which caused him to miss the Lakers\u2019 win against Washington on Monday.<\/p>\n

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Don\u010di\u0107 is averaging 33.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game this season for the Lakers, leading the league in scoring while positioning himself as one of the top MVP candidates along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Joki\u0107. He was considered a favorite for his sixth first-team All-NBA spot after leading the Lakers to a 50-win season before his injury.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the only Western Conference player to win Player of the Month honors twice this season, earning the award in January and March.<\/p>\n

There is a belief that the two games he missed to be with family in Europe for the birth of his child would meet the league\u2019s criteria for an exception, and Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s agent \u2014 Bill Duffy of WME Basketball \u2014 pointed to that in a statement acquired by The Athletic<\/em> on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo ensure that Luka\u2019s incredible accomplishments this season are rightly honored and he can be considered for the league\u2019s end-of-season awards, we intend to apply for an \u2018Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge\u2019 to the 65-game rule,\u201d Duffy\u2019s statement read, in part. \u201cLuka missed two games this season for the birth of his second child in Slovenia. His daughter was born on Dec. 4 on another continent, and yet he was back in the United States competing with his team on Dec. 6. Luka has gone to great lengths to show up for his team and this league this season. His record-breaking season deserves to be noted in the history books, despite last night\u2019s unfortunate injury and other extraordinary circumstances. We look forward to working with the NBAPA and the league office to ensure a fair outcome in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Luka<\/p>\n
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\n Luka Don\u010di\u0107 to miss rest of regular season with hamstring injury, Lakers announce\n <\/div>\n
\n Don\u010di\u0107’s status for the playoffs, which begin in 15 days, remains uncertain.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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According to the policy, the team and Don\u010di\u0107 can file for the exception starting on the final day of the regular season and then have until the next day to formally submit it. Should a \u201cchallenge expert\u201d chosen jointly by the NBA and NBPA rule in his favor, \u201cthe sole remedy shall be that the player is deemed eligible for the Applicable Generally Recognized League Honors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Amick contributed to this story.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Luka Don\u010di\u0107 has a pathway to end-of-season award eligibility despite falling short of the minimum games threshold. According to the NBA\u2019s 65-game participation policy, players can appeal for an \u201cExtraordinary Circumstances Challenge\u201d if they meet a series of factors that include \u201cextraordinary circumstances\u201d where \u201cit was impracticable for him to play in […]<\/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-1864595","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\/1864595","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=1864595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1864595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1864595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1864595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}