Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Lakers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Throughout the season, conversations about the 65-game rule have been ramping up as players who are worthy of end-of-season awards find themselves disqualified.
The Lakers have all three of their stars currently ineligible for awards.
Luka Dončić is out indefinitely due to a hamstring
strain. He is set to miss the rest of the regular season, and his playoff status is up in the air.
He needed to play in one more game to reach the 65-game threshold for end-of-season awards consideration, and now that he’s ruled out of the rest of LA’s games, he’ll remain at 64. Dončić will apply for the Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge, so perhaps the NBA will make an exception and make him eligible.
LeBron James might play 60 or more games, but he will also be ineligible. The rule is firm, but it feels weird that players like Victor Wembanayama, who have played fewer minutes than James, are up for awards simply because they suited up for more contests.
In our national SB Nation Reacts survey this week, we asked whether the league should lower the 65-game threshold, which led to potentially surprising results.
While it’s understandable to have some rules that incentivize players to play, Luka and LeBron are among the players this rule has hurt.
This rule is turning the awards into a recognition of the best players who played 65 games, rather than the best players in the NBA each season. But, fans seem to think 65 games is fine, and if that means great players lose All-NBA selections or even MVP, so be it.
A good compromise could be just setting the parameters at 1300 minutes. Since the NBA states a game counts if a player plays 20 minutes and 65 games are necessary, then 1300 minutes is really how much they, at minimum, want a player to play to qualify. The rule set this way would still allow most of the best players to be eligible, barring a significant injury.
Lakers playoff foes
The Lakers now have to play the rest of the way without Luka and Austin Reaves, who is likely done for the year with a Grade 2 oblique strain. This makes the Lakers’ odds of postseason success that much tougher.
Before these injuries were known, we also asked fans which team they would most like the Lakers to play in the first round of the playoffs between the Wolves, Rockets, and Nuggets.
All of the options for the Lakers are tough teams. However, given that the Lakers have recently beaten the Rockets in back-to-back games in Houston, it makes sense that fans would feel confident they can win this matchup.
Even with Kevin Durant joining the Rockets, they haven’t been able to maximize their potential and play like one of the best teams in the NBA.
Now, however, all opponents have gotten much harder.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
