A couple of years ago, the NBA instituted a 65 games played rule for most year-end awards. With a few exceptions, players must miss no more than 17 regular-season games to be considered for honors like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, All-NBA and so on.
Fast forward to now, and many who follow or cover the Association are railing against the rule. So many deserving players have been disqualified from winning awards that calls for change are louder than ever. And yet, for this season specifically, the Toronto Raptors may benefit from it.
To pin it down even further, Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes might get a boost from this rule.
No, neither of them will be winning MVP. Go ahead and look at any of the top operators of sports betting in Canada, as outlined by OnlineSportsBetting.net. You will see that neither Barnes nor Ingram even factors into the MVP discussion.
The All-NBA conversation, however, is a different story.
NBA Stars are Losing Awards Eligibility Left and Right
Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram have each appeared in more than 70 games. Awards eligibility isn’t a problem for either one. Both will also be mentioned at least tangentially in All-NBA discussions. In Barnes’ case, he will even receive some Defensive Player of the Year love. His growth on that end of the floor has evolved into all-around dominance. The Raptors do not outperform preseason projections so decidedly without him mucking possessions up as both a primary stopper and help defender.
Still, if the league is operating with all of its stars in play, neither Barnes nor Ingram is a lock to make All-NBA. Unfortunately for a bunch of stars, but fortunately for Barnes and Ingram, this isn’t the case.
Big names like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Austin Reaves, Jimmy Butler, Domantas Sabonis, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton (out for season), Lauri Markkanen, Anthony Davis, Trae Young, Ja Morant and Jalen Williams are all off the board when it comes to choosing All-NBA squads. This is just the tip of the iceberg, too.
More Stars May Lose Their Awards Eligibility
Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Jokic might be First Team All-NBA locks, but each of them can only miss one more game to preserve eligibility. Victor Wembanyama is a shoo-in for First Team All-NBA and Defensive Player of the Year. He can only miss two more games.
Evan Mobley can only miss one more game. The same goes for Devin Booker. And for Deni Avidija. Tyrese Maxey can only rack up a couple of more instances.
Oh, and we have not even gotten to Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers. He just suffered a calf injury in his…64th game of the season. He needs to play in at least one of the Lakers’ final five games to retain his eligibility.
Now, if you are keeping score at him, four of the five First Team All-NBA spots may be impacted by this rule. Doncic, Jokic and Wemby are all locks if they play in enough games. Kawhi is more debatable, but he’s close to a certainty, too.
Naturally, you can understand why people despise this rule. It paves the way for possibly random selections, particularly on the Second and Third Team ballots.
Of course, as many point out, availability is a skill. But the outrage is understandable, too. If one or more of Doncic, Kawhi, Jokic and Wembanyama miss out on All-NBA honors because they played one fewer game than the cutoff, can we honestly say the resulting All-NBA teams are a reflection of this season?
Anyway, This is Good News for Barnes and Ingram
To this end, the masses’ outrage could be fantastic news for Barnes and Ingram. If enough of the aforementioned players lose their awards eligibility, one of them could become the first member of the Raptors to earn an All-NBA nod since Pascal Siakam did in 2022.
If we had to guess, Barnes has the best chance of doing so. Ingram is having the more prolific scoring season, but Scottie has been one of the league’s 10 best defenders while adjusting his offensive portfolio to feature more playmaking and play-finishing.
Heck, even if no one else loses their ineligibility, we have a feeling Barnes will wind up appearing on a smattering of Third Team All-NBA ballots. Whether this actually makes it is debatable. We would lean towards no, but if it’s possible.
In the event two of Doncic, Wemby, Jokic and Kawhi fail to reach 65 games, though? Well, then Barnes’ candidacy may go from distinct possibility to a borderline certainty.
