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Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic and Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham are eligible to win NBA end-of-season awards after successful appeals.<\/b><\/p>\n
Traditionally, players must feature in a minimum of 65 regular season games to be eligible, but Cunningham played 63 and Doncic played 64.<\/p>\n
Doncic, 27, and Cunningham, 24, both lodged challenges to the rule due to “extraordinary circumstances”.<\/p>\n
Cunningham missed 12 games with a collapsed lung, while Doncic missed two for the birth of his daughter in Slovenia – both reasons were cited by the NBA as part of the exemptions.<\/p>\n
The ruling means that they are now in contention for awards including MVP and All-NBA teams.<\/p>\n
Doncic has scored a league-high 2,143 points during the regular season to help the Lakers reach the play-offs and was recently named as the player to sell the most shirts across Europe and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Cunningham ranks second in the league for assists (634), with the Pistons also through to the play-offs as they sit top of the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves played 60 games but was denied his appeal to be given allowance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n