NBA bends rule for Lakers’ Luka Doncic, Pistons’ Cade Cunningham

Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic and Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham will be eligible for postseason awards despite not playing the bare-minimum 65 games this season, according to a new report.

Shams Charania of ESPN reported April 16 that the NBA and its players’ union have approved the two players’ petition to be eligible for postseason awards based on their Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge.

As a result, Doncic and Cunningham are eligible for the MVP award and All-NBA teams.

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Doncic leads the NBA in scoring this season at 33.5 points per game. But he suffered a season-ending hamstring injury in his 64th game of the season, leaving him one short of the minimum needed to qualify for the MVP and other postseason honors.

The rule effectively exists as an incentive for teams to put their best players on the court late in the season, regardless of whether they have clinched a postseason berth or not.

Doncic’s case was simple: he didn’t play the final five games of the season because he was hurt, not because the Lakers were tanking.

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The Lakers are still hoping to have Doncic for the playoffs even though he hasn’t played since April 2.

As for Cunningham, who averaged 23.9 points and 9.9 assists in 64 games, he missed a significant stretch of time (March 18 to April 7) with a collapsed lung.

More to come on this story.