{"id":71190,"date":"2024-03-30T15:55:16","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T19:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=71190"},"modified":"2024-03-30T15:55:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T19:55:16","slug":"three-more-star-players-now-eligible-for-end-of-season-nba-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/30\/three-more-star-players-now-eligible-for-end-of-season-nba-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Three More Star Players Now Eligible For End-Of-Season Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With load management becoming so commonplace in the NBA, the league decided to make rule changes to try to combat it. Starting this season, a player would need to <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/explaining-nbas-65-game-rule-030826797.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">play at least 65 games<\/a> to become eligible for most NBA awards and honors. The new rule applies to players being eligible for MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, and All-NBA &amp; All-Defensive Teams.<\/p>\n<p>After Friday\u2019s slate of games, three notable players will now be eligible after reaching the 65-game mark.<\/p>\n<h2>Three More Star Players Now Eligible For End-Of-Season Awards<\/h2>\n<h3>LeBron Looks to Continue All-NBA Streak<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a> is now in his 21st NBA season. He has been named to an All-NBA team every year in the league since his rookie year.<\/p>\n<p>The four-time league MVP has received All-NBA honors for 19 straight seasons. James has been on the All-NBA First Team 13 times, Second Team three times, and Third Team three times. With averages of 25.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.1 assists in 2023-24, it is likely that streak will stretch to 20 straight seasons.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">LeBron James has reached the 65-game criteria.<\/p>\n<p>He is now eligible for postseason honors.<\/p>\n<p>James has been named All-NBA 19 seasons in a row.<\/p>\n<p>This is the first time James and Anthony Davis have played 65+ games together in one season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobbyMarks42\/status\/1773860304998342984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>While James has technically played 64 games thus far, the In-Season Tournament Finals is counted as a game towards the 65-game minimum. That game did not count in the regular season standings.<\/p>\n<h3>Wemby\u2019s Defensive Prowess Should Have Him on an All-Defensive Team<\/h3>\n<p>Rookie of the Year is not an award that requires a 65-game minimum. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> has likely sewn up winning that award, and now he can receive honors for the defensive prowess he has exhibited all season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/19\/the-greatest-rookie-seasons-of-all-time-how-does-wembanyama-stack-up-to-the-goats\/\" target=\"_self\">Wembanyama<\/a> played in his 65th game on Friday, an overtime victory by the San Antonio Spurs over the New York Knicks. It was a career night for the 2023 first overall pick as he scored 40 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Victor Wembanyama has reached the 65-game criteria.<\/p>\n<p>He is now eligible for postseason honors.<\/p>\n<p>Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie do not fall under the game requirement rule.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobbyMarks42\/status\/1773882132416299289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The league leader in blocks, Wembanyama is not likely to win Defensive Player of the Year. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/goberru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rudy Gobert<\/a> is the heavy favorite to win the award for the fourth time. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/18\/victor-wembanyama-records-another-historic-performance-in-win\/\" target=\"_self\">20-year-old Wembanyama<\/a> is likely to find his name on an All-Defensive Team though. The last rookie to receive All-Defensive honors is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duncati01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Duncan<\/a> in the 1997-98 season.<\/p>\n<h3>Maxey for Most Improved Player?<\/h3>\n<p>An All-Star for the first time this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a> played in his 65th game on Friday. He is also now eligible for NBA awards and honors after the season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tyrese Maxey has reached the 65-game criteria.<\/p>\n<p>Maxey is now eligible for postseason honors.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobbyMarks42\/status\/1773870900955189695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nAccording to <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsbook.draftkings.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>, the fourth-year player is a heavy favorite to take home Most Improved Player. Maxey is listed at -300 to win the award. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> is second at +220, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willija06.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Williams<\/a> is third at +8000.<\/p>\n<p>Maxey actually finished sixth in Most Improved Player voting in 2021-22. With averages of 25.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 6.2 assists, the 23-year-old could find himself as an All-NBA member as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With load management becoming so commonplace in the NBA, the league decided to make rule changes to try to combat it. Starting this season, a player would need to play at least 65 games to become eligible for most NBA awards and honors. The new rule applies to players being eligible for MVP, Defensive Player [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":71217,"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":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,26,3,13,34],"tags":[38,2478,4669],"class_list":["post-71190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-news","category-76ers","category-spurs","tag-lebron-james","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71190","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\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}