The Latest NBA Ruling on Award Eligibility Creates Credibility Issue

In time for the 2023-24 season, the NBA made the bold decision to implement a new rule to try and limit the concept of load management that was running rampant. Any player that played less than 65 games or didn’t play at least 20 minutes in 63 of them, are ruled ineligible for any major awards.

That was put into place after a look at the 2022-23 All-NBA teams saw that five players selected each missed at least 18 games. Three of them missed at least 24 contests.

When the rule was implemented, reference to an extraordinary circumstances clause was made. At the time, the idea was that being injured wouldn’t cause the rule to be waived. After all, that would simply defeat the purpose of the rule to begin with, right?

Fast forward to Thursday, when all that went right out the window.

Doncic, Cunningham Set League On Its Ear

Luka Doncic of the Lakers, Cade Cunningham of the Pistons and Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves all appealed the rule this season. Each fell short of the 65-game threshold. Doncic played 64 games, Cunningham 63 and Edwards 60 in the regular season.

The crux of Doncic’s argument was that two of the games he missed were for the birth of his child overseas. Cunningham missed a dozen games late in the year with a collapsed lung. Both appealed and the league, along with the NBA Players’ Association, waived the rule for both players. That makes them eligible for awards.

Edwards went the opposite route, making his case to an arbitrator. Unfortunately for him, the arbitrator ruled against him, leaving him ineligible.

The Impact of the Decision

For starters, it screams of inconsistent ruling, both in the current iteration and overall. Initially, it was expected that there would be no way to find a loophole under extraordinary circumstances relating to injuries. Now, that has gone out the window with the ruling that Doncic and Cunningham are now eligible for awards.

In terms of current ruling, it seems shaky as well. To grant waivers to Doncic and Cunningham while rejecting Edwards’ case screams inconsistency. While Edwards’ business manager Justin Holland said that Edwards isn’t worried about the ruling, he did express confusion over while Cunningham earned a free pass when his client didn’t.

It also impacted award season as a whole. The ballots were held up while the appeals were pending, which ultimately impacts things. Bettors who had tickets for awards that seemed to be better options given the way the field looked Sunday aren’t looking so rosy now. Meanwhile, in the Rookie of the Year race, reports said that Kon Knueppel’s odds dropped after Charlotte’s 127-126 overtime win over Miami in the play-in tournament Tuesday night. That game shouldn’t factor in being a play-in tournament matchup. That counts double since ballots normally would have been out already.

The league now has a bit of a credibility problem. Backtracking from a rule specifically implemented to stop this exact issue from happening sets a bad precedent. How Adam Silver, NBPA president Fred VanVleet and the parties involved act going forward will go a long way to determining how seriously their decisions are taken going forward.

Will it be ironclad decisions going forward or will the rules be malleable? Time will tell but as it stands, there’s an issue that didn’t need to make an appearance.