We’re halfway through the 2025-26 NBA season. It’s also the third year of the NBA’s 65-game played policy to be eligible for postseason awards. So far through the first two seasons, things have gone mostly as Adam Silver and the NBA party-planning committee foresaw when they set out to address the load-management epidemic across the league.
In the first year of the rule, Kyrie Irving, Karl-Anthony Towns, Cade Cunningham, and Jamal Murray were the best players who were ineligible for postseason awards or All-NBA teams. Four players who likely would not have earned any accolades even if they hit the 65-game threshold.
Last season, the rule claimed a few more victims who may have been in the running in previous years. Victor Wembanyama lost out on his first of many DPOY trophies thanks to deep vein thrombosis. Luka Doncic battled injuries with the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers, playing only 50 games. Kevin Durant was three games shy of eligibility for awards. Jaylen Brown missed the cut-off by two games. And Jalen Brunson just hit 65 games to be named second team All-NBA.
This season, half of the potential first-team All-NBA and major players in the MVP race could be deemed ineligible because of the player participation rule.
Wembanyama has again missed 14 of San Antonio’s first 40 games and is almost assuredly going to miss too many games again this season. Nikola Jokic is in the midst of a month-long absence with a knee injury and will be teetering on the brink of eligibility at the end of the season. Giannis Antetokounmpo can only miss three more games the rest of the season. Luka Doncic is one pulled hamstring away from missing too many games. Steph Curry has already missed 10 games. Kawhi Leonard is doing his usual load management. And LeBron James has to play every game the rest of the way to be eligible to make his 22nd consecutive All-NBA team.
However, the Timberwolves were hardly affected in the first two years of the rule. Anthony Edwards cruised to 79 games in 2023-24 and made second-team All-NBA. Gobert played 76 games on his way to his record-tying fourth DPOY award. Naz Reid missed one game on his way to winning Sixth Man of the Year.
The only casualty was Towns, who may have snuck into an All-NBA team if he played four more games. Ant played 79 games again last year and was named to his second consecutive second-team All-NBA. Gober took a step back in the DPOY standings but still played 72 games and made the second team All-Defense. Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, and Naz Reid cleared the games-played bar, but none were in contention for any end-of-season honors.
But this year is different. Edwards, who missed just 19 games across his first five seasons in the NBA, has already sat out eight of Minnesota’s first 41 games this year. The Wolves have also already ruled him out of Friday’s game against the Houston Rockets on the front end of a back-to-back. It will be his ninth missed game.
Anthony Edwards has missed four games early in the season thanks to a hamstring strain. A foot injury cost him three straight games in December and has lingered into the new year, leading to a second straight game missed due to foot injury maintenance. He also played only 3 minutes against the Indiana Pacers in the game when he injured his hamstring, which doesn’t count toward the 65-game played threshold. 10 games out of 42 means Edwards is on pace to play 62.5 games this year and would miss out on any accolades.
It would be a bummer because Edwards is having the best season of his young career. Even with the missed games, Edwards is averaging 28.9 points, five rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on 50/40.9/78.7 shooting. He has the Wolves playing their best basketball of the season as they sit just one game out of second place in the Western Conference. When healthy, he’s on track to make a third straight second-team All-NBA and could even push into the first team with all of the other injuries plaguing the league this season.
We’ll see how Chris Finch and the Wolves training staff manage Ant’s ailments in the second half of the season. The All-Star break should provide him a little bit of time to recover and rest his sore foot. He assuredly will make his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance, but he sat out last year, and that might be in Ant’s best interest and the Wolves if they want to make another run down the stretch.
Every other regular rotational player who could be up for any award has hardly missed a game this year. Julius Randle, Naz Reid, and Donte DiVincenzo have played in all 41. Rudy Gobert missed his first game of the season on Tuesday thanks to a one-game suspension due to too many flagrant fouls. That might factor in down the stretch, as each flagrant foul going forward will result in a two-game suspension. Jaden McDaniels has only missed two games.
If Ant’s iron man track record is any indication, he’ll clear the 65-game hurdle with ease, and these ticky-tack injuries will be a footnote in another great season. But it will be something to monitor for the rest of the year, and any minor ailment that knocks Edwards out for a week might keep him from earning an All-NBA selection for the third straight year.