Doncic and the MVP: 11-game limit
The point guard has already missed six games. Since the last agreement, players must play at least 65 games to be eligible for awards.
Luka Doncic was missing from TD Garden early this morning as the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Boston Celtics 126–105. It marked his second straight absence—and sixth of the season in just 22 games—after traveling back to Slovenia for the birth of his second child.
The Lakers haven’t collapsed without him, posting a respectable 4–2 record in games he’s missed. But for Doncic personally, those absences could prove costly in the race for individual awards, especially the coveted MVP.
The 65-game rule
Under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, players must appear in at least 65 games and average 20 minutes per contest to qualify for end-of-season honors. That leaves room for only 17 missed games.
Doncic has already sat out six, meaning he has just 11 more absences to spare if he wants to stay in the MVP conversation alongside Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Right now, the league consensus has Jokic slightly ahead of Shai, with Doncic sitting third.
The competition
Nikola Jokic: Already a three-time MVP, the Serbian center is averaging a triple-double—29.2 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 11 assists—while leading the Denver Nuggets to a 16–6 record, good for fourth in the West. He hasn’t missed a single game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: The Thunder star is putting up 32.8 points per game, second-best in the league, along with 6.4 assists and 4.7 rebounds. Remarkably, he’s done it while barely playing in fourth quarters—just 11 of 23 games so far—and hasn’t missed a single contest.
Doncic’s dominance
Despite the absences, Doncic is in one of the best stretches of his career. After a grueling summer of conditioning, he’s emerged as the NBA’s leading scorer at 35.3 points per game. He’s flirting with a triple-double average thanks to 8.9 rebounds and 8.9 assists, ranking fourth in the league.
In his last seven games with the Lakers—currently third in the West at 16–6—Doncic has scored at least 33 points every night, including two 40-point performances.
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