NBA players including Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, and LeBron James are ineligible for the 2026 MVP award due to a new 65-game minimum requirement. Players must also meet specific playing time criteria to qualify for season awards.
NBA players ineligible for 2026 awards: Why Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, more can't win MVP originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Load management has become an increasing trend in the NBA, and it has affected many players in the hunt for NBA season awards.
While the league recently created a 65-game minimum to qualify for awards, teams have still opted to play the risk and rest their stars during some games. This has been shown to come back and bite them if a player would later miss extended time due to injury.
In these 65 or more games, players are required to be on the court for 20 minutes or more. A player is allowed two "near misses," where the player has played 15-19 minutes, and still be allowed to qualify. Along with this, players who are on the court for 62 credited games can remain eligible if they were to suffer a season-ending injury.
Here are the stars who missed out or came close to qualifying for this year's awards.
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With the NBA's new rule of the 65-game threshold to qualify for season awards, teams have opted to rest their players fewer times than in previous years. However, some star players still fall short of qualifying due to injury or other factors.
For example, many of this year's players with a significant amount of minutes played found themselves outside of award eligibility due to not playing 20 minutes or more. This season, Denver Nuggets forward Bruce Brown was the only player to have played in all 82 of the team's games this season. However, he played under 20 minutes in 20 of the Nuggets' games, meaning he had missed out on the minimum threshold.
Despite the chatter from the NBA community, commissioner Adam Silver has held steady in the league's stance. According to Silver, "In the league's view, the rule is working." The NBA's Board of Governors meeting in July will likely bring up the topic against, but for now, the threshold is not set to be altered or removed.
Here are five notable NBA players who had question marks surrounding their NBA award eligibility.
After suffering a regular-season ending hamstring injury, Luka Doncic fell out of contention for this year's MVP award. The Slovenian star was among the league's best this year and led the NBA in scoring, averaging 33.5 points per game. The Laker also averaged 8.3 assists (3rd in NBA) and 7.7 rebounds.
Doncic and his team have appealed his ineligibility for awards under the Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge umbrella, per a statement obtained by ESPN. Earlier this season, he missed two games due to the birth of his daughter in Slovenia. Doncic was back in the U.S. just two days after his daughter was born on Dec. 4, and his agent, Bill Duffy, believes the Slovenian did everything in his power to play as much as he could have despite this.
MORE:Why is Luka Doncic traveling to Europe for hamstring treatment?
Despite leading the Pistons to their third-best record in franchise history (60-22) and the East's top seed for the 2026 Playoffs, Cade Cunningham has not reached the 65-game threshold to qualify for NBA awards this season. On March 17, the point guard's stellar season was put on pause after it was revealed Cunningham had a collapsed lung.
The injury sidelined him for 11 games, with Detroit's star returning for the team's final three. Prior to that, Detroit's star had missed seven additional games. The Piston averaged the NBA's second-most assists with 9.8. He also scored 24.2 points per game and added an average of 5.5 rebounds.
MORE:When did Cade Cunningham get hurt?
Victor Wembanyama's award eligibility came down to the wire this season, but the Frenchman has qualified for regular-season awards. The 7'4" Frenchman was in danger of missing out by a game due to a late-season rib injury, but battled through on April 10 against the Dallas Mavericks. Despite only playing 26 minutes, he scored a 40-point, 13-rebound double-double and will be eligible for this season's MVP award.
After the game, Wembanyama said that he would not have played had he already qualified for awards. The Spurs' star averaged 25 points, 11.5 rebounds (4th in NBA), 3.1 assists, and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game.
Wembanyama also shared his belief that the league should change the minimum number of games to 75% of the season, which would be 62 games instead of 65. Here is him discussing the topic during a recent press conference.
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Due to only suiting up for 60 games this season, LeBron James will be absent from NBA award ballots this year. James started this year sidelined due to right-side sciatica and missed the team's first 14 games of the season. Throughout the season, he went on to miss an additional eight games due to contusions or arthritis.
In his 23rd season in the league, James averaged 21 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.1 rebounds to help lead the Lakers to the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. He will need to step up big, with the team being without Doncic and Austin Reaves to begin their playoff campaign.
MORE:Why LeBron James bashed the city of Memphis
After consistently playing over 70 games per season to begin his NBA career, Anthony Edwards will miss out on NBA-award eligibility for the first time. The Minnesota star missed seven of the team's final 10 games due to a right-knee injury and illness, which means he fell just short of eligibility. He missed 21 games this season after his best scoring year, where he was third in most points per game with 28.8.
He will be active in the playoffs for the Timberwolves, where they will play the No. 3 Denver Nuggets in the first round.
Beginning in the 2023-24 season, NBA rules state that players must appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and Most Improved Player awards, as well as All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams. The rule doesn't apply to the Rookie of the Year or Sixth Man of the Year awards.
Along with the 65-game threshold, players must appear in those games for 20 minutes or more for it to qualify as a "played-in game." A player is allowed two "near misses," in which the player appeared for 15 to 19 minutes, which can be included in the 65-game count. Protections also exist for players who suffer season-ending injuries, who are eligible with 62 credited games, and those affected by what the CBA calls "bad faith circumstances."
"Load management," the term coined to describe when teams rest their star players, has become an increasing trend around the NBA. The 65-game rule was agreed upon in the league's current collective bargaining agreement to help combat this, in which teams rested players to either keep them fresh or nurse minor ailments.
Luka Doncic and LeBron James are ineligible because they did not meet the new 65-game minimum requirement set by the NBA for award qualifications.
The new eligibility requirement for NBA awards in 2026 mandates that players must play at least 65 games and be on the court for a minimum of 20 minutes in those games.
Load management affects NBA players' eligibility by leading teams to rest stars, which can result in players not meeting the required number of games to qualify for awards.
If an NBA player suffers a season-ending injury but has played at least 62 games, they can still remain eligible for awards despite not reaching the 65-game threshold.
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