Despite falling short of the NBA’s rule requiring 65 games played to qualify for end-of-season awards, Cade Cunningham will be at the top of a lot of awards ballots.
The Detroit Pistons superstar, along with Luka Dončić of the Los Angeles Lakers, was made award-eligible Thursday, April 16, according to a joint statement from the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association. The decision comes three weeks after the NBPA formally pushed to make an exception for Cunningham, who led the Pistons to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference and a 60-22 record.
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Cunningham finished the season with 63 games that counted (with at least 20 minutes played) toward award eligibility. He missed 12 games after suffering a collapsed lung on March 17, but returned for the final three games of the season. Cunningham also missed three games in November with a hip issue and two games in January with a wrist injury.
The NBA and NBPA, in their most recent collective bargaining agreement, had agreed that 65 games (of at least 20 minutes of action) were required for eligibility for awards such as All-NBA, MVP, All-Defense and Defensive Player of the Year. Players who missed the cutoff were allowed to appeal if they missed games due to “extraordinary circumstances,” rather than load management.
“The NBA and NBPA agreed that, taking into account the totality of the circumstances for Cunningham and Dončić, each player qualified for awards under the extraordinary circumstances provision in the CBA,” the league and the players union said in a joint statement.
Cunningham, who is likely to receive MVP and All-NBA votes after starting this season’s All-Star Game, averaged 23.9 points, 9.9 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game and further established himself as one of the best two-way playmakers in the league.
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Dončić appeared in 64 of 82 games, missing two regular-season games to attend the birth of his daughter in Slovenia and the final five games of the regular season with a severe hamstring strain.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Cade Cunningham awards update as Pistons guard regains eligibility
