{"id":186451,"date":"2026-04-05T02:42:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=186451"},"modified":"2026-04-05T02:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:42:26","slug":"why-lakers-luka-doncic-will-be-eligible-for-awards-despite-season-ending-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/04\/05\/why-lakers-luka-doncic-will-be-eligible-for-awards-despite-season-ending-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Lakers&#8217; Luka Doncic Will Be Eligible For Awards Despite Season-Ending Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Just as the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/lakers\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> were surging in the West and forcing many to rethink their championship credentials, disaster struck. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luka Doncic<\/a> injured his hamstring in a 139\u201396 blowout loss to the defending champions, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/thunder\/\" target=\"_self\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>. An MRI later revealed a grade 2 strain, effectively ending his regular season, making him ineligible for an All-NBA selection and MVP consideration. Shams Charania reported that the Slovenian guard \u201cwill miss the remainder of the regular season and his status is uncertain beyond that.\u201d However, a lesser known clause will make Luka Doncic eligible for awards.<\/p>\n<h2>Why Lakers&#8217; Luka Doncic Will Be Eligible For Awards Despite Season-Ending Injury<\/h2>\n<h3>Injury Timeline and Playoff Implications<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_186614\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-186614\" style=\"width: 3842px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28624611_168402037_lowres.webp\" alt=\"Mar 30, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) and forward LeBron James (23) defend on the court in the second half against the Washington Wizards at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images\" width=\"3842\" height=\"2561\" class=\"size-full wp-image-186614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28624611_168402037_lowres.webp 3842w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28624611_168402037_lowres-768x512.webp 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28624611_168402037_lowres-600x400.webp 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/USATSI_28624611_168402037_lowres-1200x800.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3842px) 100vw, 3842px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-186614\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mar 30, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James (9) and forward LeBron James (23) defend on the court in the second half against the Washington Wizards at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A grade II strain means a partial muscle tear. That injury typically requires three to six weeks of recovery. The playoffs begin on April 18, just over two weeks away. Doncic now faces a real chance of missing the first round against Minnesota.<\/p>\n<p>RotoWire analyst Jeff Stotts provided further context. \u201cThis season, the average time lost for nondescript hamstring strains in the NBA has been ~22 days (~9 games). That is higher than the historical average of 12.1 days (~5 games),\u201d he <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/status\/2039911929657909305\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic has played 64 games this season. He sits just one game short of the 65-game requirement for award eligibility. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a> and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cunnica01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cade Cunningham<\/a> are already ineligible. Edwards dealt with right knee patellofemoral pain syndrome. Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung. Doncic now risks missing out on a sixth First-Team All-NBA selection.<\/p>\n<h3>The Push for an Exception<\/h3>\n<p>Doncic&#8217;s agent, Bill Duffy of WME Basketball, outlined their plan to pursue an exception.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Statement from Luka Doncic\u2019s agent Bill Duffy of WME Basketball: &quot;This season, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 has performed at a historic level, leading the league in scoring, carrying the Lakers to third place in the Western Conference and placing himself in the middle of one of the most tightly\u2026 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bKVOmzheDE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/bKVOmzheDE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/2040188592723521697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 3, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis season, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 has performed at a historic level,\u201d Duffy said. He noted Luka leads the league in scoring and carried the Lakers to third in the West while also highlighting Doncic&#8217;s place in a tight MVP race.<\/p>\n<p>Duffy confirmed they will apply for an \u201cExtraordinary Circumstances Challenge\u201d to the 65-game rule. He pointed out that Doncic missed two games for the birth of his second child in Slovenia. His daughter was born on Dec. 4. Doncic returned to the United States and played again on Dec. 6.<\/p>\n<h3>Why Don\u010di\u0107\u2019s Case Stands Out<\/h3>\n<p>The NBA has remained firm on preserving the integrity of the 65-game rule. Commissioner Adam Silver addressed a similar situation a few weeks back involving Cunningham. He stressed that the rule is collectively bargained and that the league will not create broad exceptions that weaken its purpose.<\/p>\n<p>That stance aims to prevent routine flexibility, especially in standard injury cases. Doncic\u2019s situation differs. He did not miss time under typical basketball circumstances. Two absences came from the birth of his child overseas. That event required international travel and was unavoidable.<\/p>\n<p>Doncic returned and resumed playing within days. That response reinforces his commitment to availability. Approving an exception would not contradict the league\u2019s position. Instead, it would reflect the intent behind the \u201cExtraordinary Circumstances\u201d clause. The clause requires a player to play at least 62 games Therefore, it&#8217;s extremely likely Luka Doncic will be eligible for the end-of-season awards.<\/p>\n<p><label>Credit:<\/label><span><\/span>\u00a9 Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Just as the Los Angeles Lakers were surging in the West and forcing many to rethink their championship credentials, disaster struck. Luka Doncic injured his hamstring in a 139\u201396 blowout loss to the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. An MRI later revealed a grade 2 strain, effectively ending his regular season, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":186755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,26,3],"tags":[50244,1133,49755],"class_list":["post-186451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-news","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba-rules"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186451"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186758,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186451\/revisions\/186758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}