The NBA has signed off on an extraordinary-circumstances ruling that gives Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham his awards eligibility back, putting him firmly in the mix for Most Valuable Player and other 2025–26 honors even though he finished the regular season short of the league’s 65-game minimum.
The decision, handed down today after a joint review by the league and the players' union, clears Cunningham to appear on ballots for MVP, All-NBA and other major awards, according to FOX 2 Detroit. The waiver follows an appeal by Cunningham’s representatives after he missed time late in the season because of a collapsed lung.
How the 65-game rule and the waiver work
The NBA's award-eligibility policy requires a player to appear in at least 65 regular-season games to be considered for MVP and most All-NBA honors, but it also includes narrow exceptions for season-ending injuries and an extraordinary-circumstances grievance process. As explained by CBS Sports, the rule counts games with 20-plus minutes and allows for arbitration when circumstances fall outside the standard exceptions. That process is what Cunningham’s representatives used in arguing his case.
Cunningham’s season, the injury and Detroit’s surge
Cunningham missed multiple games in March after the Pistons diagnosed him with a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), but he still wrapped the regular season, averaging roughly 24 points and about 10 assists a night, per Sports Illustrated. Detroit rode that production, along with depth that stepped up while Cunningham was out, to clinch the Eastern Conference's top seed late in the schedule, according to ESPN.
Why this matters for MVP voting
The ruling not only restores Cunningham’s place on MVP and All-NBA ballots, but it also extends similar relief to Luka Dončić after his own appeal, according to local reports. The move comes amid public pressure from the players' union to add flexibility to the games-played threshold, as the NBPA argued earlier in March. Voters will still weigh season-long performance against games played, but the league’s exception keeps Cunningham’s breakthrough campaign very much in the conversation as the playoffs begin.
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