### Players Ineligible for NBA Awards This Season: The 65-Game Rule’s Harsh Toll
**By Grok Staff Writer**
*Raleigh News & Observer*
*November 12, 2025*
NEW YORK — As the NBA’s 2024-25 regular season hits its midpoint, the league’s glittering end-of-season awards—MVP, All-NBA nods, Defensive Player of the Year—dangle like forbidden fruit for more than two dozen stars. The culprit? The infamous 65-game rule, a cornerstone of the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) designed to combat load management but now ensnaring injury-plagued superstars in its unyielding grip. Only 84 players—barely 15% of the league—remain eligible for major honors, leaving icons like Joel Embiid, Victor Wembanyama, and Kevin Durant on the outside looking in. Their absences from the ballot aren’t just a footnote; they’re a seismic shift in how we measure greatness, sparking fury from players, coaches, and fans alike.<grok:render card_id=”e0c228″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Enacted to ensure stars suit up for at least 80% of the 82-game slate, the rule mandates 65 games with at least 20 minutes played each (with narrow exceptions for two games at 15 minutes or a season-ending injury after 62 contests). It applies to MVP, DPOY, Most Improved Player, All-NBA, and All-Defensive teams—prizes that often unlock supermax extensions worth tens of millions. Rookie of the Year and Sixth Man honors? Spared, as the league deemed those pools small enough. But for veterans, it’s a brutal gatekeeper. “This isn’t about rewarding the best; it’s about who stays upright longest,” grumbled Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey after a recent practice, echoing a chorus of discontent.<grok:render card_id=”d6b8ce” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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No one embodies the rule’s cruelty like Joel Embiid. The reigning MVP, who torched the league early with 34.7 points per game—including a stretch of 40-point triple-doubles that evoked Wilt Chamberlain—sprained his meniscus in January. Surgery sidelined him for 28 games, dooming his bid for back-to-back MVPs and a third All-NBA selection. At 31, Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers sit third in the East, but his absence from awards chatter stings deeper: an All-NBA miss could cost him $40 million in supermax escalators. “Joel’s the most dominant big man alive when healthy,” said Sixers coach Nick Nurse. “But the rule doesn’t care about ‘when.’ It’s punishing resilience.”<grok:render card_id=”20ddd5″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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</grok:render> Embiid, ever philosophical, posted on X: “Awards are cool, but health is the real prize. Still, this 65 thing? Wild.”<grok:render card_id=”4a90f0″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Victor Wembanyama’s plight is even more poignant. The 21-year-old San Antonio phenom, already a two-time All-Star in his sophomore leap, was the DPOY frontrunner with 3.8 blocks per game and a league-leading 110 rejections. His 7-foot-4 frame redefined defense, anchoring the Spurs to a surprise playoff push. But deep vein thrombosis—a blood clot—shuttered him after 46 games. “Wemby’s season was historic,” Spurs GM Brian Wright lamented. “He altered shots without jumping. Now? Zilch on awards.” The French sensation, who averaged 22.3 points and 11.2 rebounds, joins a growing list of “what ifs.” Ineligible, he’s ineligible for the narrative too, his supernova dimmed by bureaucracy.<grok:render card_id=”f43d16″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Kevin Durant, at 37, bears the scars of a Hall of Fame career marred by fragility. The Phoenix Suns’ slim forward, still dropping 27.1 points on 52% shooting, missed 22 games to a nagging calf strain—his third straight season under 65. “KD’s shooting threes like prime Ray Allen, defending like it’s 2014,” marveled analyst Kendrick Perkins. Yet with Phoenix chasing a title, rest was prioritized. Durant’s All-NBA drought extends to four years, a bitter pill for a 14-time All-Star. “I’ve got rings, scoring titles—awards are whatever,” Durant shrugged postgame. But privately, sources say the snub irks him, especially as it blocks a supermax bump on his $51.2 million deal.<grok:render card_id=”0afa4e” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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The rule’s fallout ripples wider. Kyrie Irving, traded midseason to Dallas in a blockbuster for Luka Dončić, tore his ACL after 50 games, erasing a renaissance of 25.2 points and 5.0 assists that had Mavs fans dreaming of All-NBA. His new teammate, Anthony Davis—acquired in the same deal—logged just 49 contests before a hamstring tweak, his two-way mastery (25.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks) lost to obscurity. “AD’s the best big defender alive, and he’s out because of minutes?” fumed Lakers legend LeBron James, who himself barely scraped eligibility with 66 games last year.<grok:render card_id=”86b72d” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Even non-injury cases bite. Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, Milwaukee’s backcourt elders, sit at 58 and 60 games, respectively—their veteran savvy (Holiday’s six All-Defensive nods, Lillard’s seven All-NBA) disqualified by “load management” optics. Norman Powell, the Clippers’ Sixth Man spark, erupted for 22.4 points off the bench but missed 19 to knee soreness, nixing his Most Improved case. Ja Morant, forever snakebitten, has sat 22 with shoulder woes, his explosive 26.2 points per game award-proof after a 25-game suspension last year.<grok:render card_id=”010a48″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Kawhi Leonard? Ineligible from tip-off, missing 34 early with knee maintenance—his Clippers tenure now a parade of phantom seasons. Bradley Beal, Phoenix’s $251 million albatross, has played 55, his silky 18.2 points overshadowed by drama. And don’t forget Kris Dunn: 72 games for Utah, but technical fouls on minutes (under 20 in key spots) render him out—a CBA quirk punishing efficiency.<grok:render card_id=”58ef99″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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The league’s intent was noble: curb stars sitting out national TV nights, boosting attendance and TV ratings amid a $76 billion media deal. Commissioner Adam Silver hailed it as “player participation progress” during All-Star Weekend. Yet backlash boils. The NBPA filed grievances for “extraordinary circumstances” on Embiid and Wembanyama’s behalves, but the bar is sky-high—requiring “clear and convincing evidence” of unjust exclusion.<grok:render card_id=”dc320b” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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</grok:render> Players like Tyrese Haliburton called it “stupid,” while coaches decry rushed returns risking careers. “We’re incentivizing playing hurt,” Heat’s Erik Spoelstra warned. Data backs the gripe: Ineligible stars average 26.8 points, 7.2 assists—elite metrics lost to math.<grok:render card_id=”e94c32″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Financially, it’s a bloodbath. All-NBA eligibility triggers 30% supermax extensions; miss it, and you’re capped at 25%. Embiid’s potential $295 million haul shrinks by $59 million. Wembanyama, extension-eligible next year, loses leverage. “It’s not just ego—it’s generational wealth,” agent Rich Paul told ESPN. Teams, too, suffer: Dallas, post-Irving trade, eyes a diminished return on their haul.<grok:render card_id=”0d2ba3″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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Yet amid the din, silver linings emerge. Eligible dark horses shine: Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (70 games, 30.1 points) vaults to MVP favorite, his Thunder atop the West. Jayson Tatum, grinding through 68 games, eyes a third All-NBA. And Most Improved? Look to Orlando’s Paolo Banchero, who opted into his rookie final year and exploded for 22.6 points, his 75 contests a blueprint for compliance.<grok:render card_id=”247d4d” card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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</grok:render> (Not all did—Davion Mitchell and Alperen Şengün, in Year 4 of rookie deals, chase awards but hover at 63 games, one miscue from exile.)<grok:render card_id=”542816″ card_type=”citation_card” type=”render_inline_citation”>
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As the season marches to April, the 65-game specter looms. Grievances pile up; the NBPA eyes CBA tweaks post-2029. For now, it’s a league of haves and have-nots—where Embiid’s dominance, Wemby’s wizardry, and Durant’s dusk evoke ghosts of accolades past. “Basketball’s about impact, not innings,” Silver once said. This year, it feels like a cruel audit. The ineligible? They’re still stars, just sans the hardware. And in a league of narratives, that’s the real miss.
In the locker rooms, resolve hardens. “We’ll win without the trophies,” Durant vowed, eyeing June. But as ballots drop, one truth endures: The game’s greatest aren’t always its most available. In 2024-25, that’s the hardest lesson of all.
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