5 NBA players ineligible for season awards after Luka, Cade Cunningham ruling
Thanks to the 65-game rule, here are a few NBA stars who won't even be on an All-NBA team this year.
On Thursday, the NBA and the NBA Players Association (NBPA) officially ruled in favor of Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Donฤiฤ and Detroit Pistons talisman Cade Cunningham regarding a touchy rule . With both Donฤiฤ and Cunningham sitting at 64 games on the very precipice of the league's 65-game eligibility threshold for end-of-season awards, both won their Extraordinary Circumstances Challenges . For Donฤiฤ, it was missing two games for the birth of one of his children.
For Cunningham, it was suffering a late-season collapsed lung that caused him to miss 12 games . That means both superstars will be able to qualify for MVP, All-NBA, and any other honors. But not every notable NBA star was so lucky.
In fact, if you weren't on the borderline, you probably had no chance of winning a similar ruling. Here's a short list of a few notable players who will not qualify for end-of-season honors, particularly All-NBA. Please note that for the players who weren't even close to the eligibility, it's more of a noteworthy denotation that they won't, in fact, do something they usually do: Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns (64 games) Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves (61 games) LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers (60 games) Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors (43 games) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks (36 games) For additional context, Booker was last on an All-NBA team in 2024, having done it twice in his career.
Edwards was a member of an All-NBA team in each of the previous two seasons. For James, it is the first time in his legendary career that he will not be part of an All-NBA team. Curry, meanwhile, is missing an All-NBA nod for the first time since 2020.