{"id":1876122,"date":"2026-04-10T13:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876122"},"modified":"2026-04-10T13:50:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T10:50:51","slug":"the-bounce-how-are-we-supposed-to-fill-out-this-mvp-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1876122","title":{"rendered":"The Bounce: How are we supposed to fill out this MVP ballot?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bounce Newslette<\/b>r<\/strong>\u00a0\":basketball:\"<\/span>\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s loss to the Warriors, the Kings intentionally fouled career 86.4 percent free-throw shooter Seth Curry while leading with just over three minutes left. Draymond Green called it an egregious tanking strategy. The Kings claimed that Doug Christie thought they had a foul to give and was trying to get a free timeout. The NBA investigated and decided the Kings weren\u2019t tanking; they\u2019re just incompetent. It\u2019s one of the funniest reasons a team can give. Because it\u2019s the Kings, I also believe them.<\/p>\n

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Who\u2019s No. 5?<\/h3>\n

Filling out the end of the MVP ballot is tough<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I was writing my final Awards Watch column<\/a> of the 2025-26 season, I had a big moment of confusion in the MVP section. It wasn\u2019t necessarily over who might win it, although there\u2019s still so much to pore over. It was more about how to fill out the entire ballot. You\u2019re supposed to select five players and rank them one through five. The 65-game rule (don\u2019t worry, you probably won\u2019t have to read me rant about it for at least a few days) potentially throws a massive wrench into that fifth spot.<\/p>\n

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Anthony Edwards is ineligible. Cade Cunningham is ineligible. Luka Don\u010di\u0107 might be ineligible. He\u2019s going to appeal because of extraordinary circumstances \u2014 he missed games to attend the birth of his child. If I were Cunningham, I would also appeal because a collapsed lung definitely feels like extraordinary circumstances. But let\u2019s say neither of those players wins their appeal (if Cade even appeals). Then who is the fifth player on the ballot?<\/p>\n

We can lock in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Joki\u0107 and Jaylen Brown. <\/strong>Victor Wembanyama needs to play 20 minutes in one of his final two games, but he\u2019s expected to do that. That gives us four. Now let\u2019s try to figure out who the fifth player on the ballot might be:<\/p>\n