{"id":237732,"date":"2026-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/the-impact-of-the-65-game-rule-on-the-nba-mvp-race-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T00:00:00","slug":"the-impact-of-the-65-game-rule-on-the-nba-mvp-race-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/the-impact-of-the-65-game-rule-on-the-nba-mvp-race-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"The impact of the 65-game rule on the NBA MVP race | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST:<\/strong> The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/standings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NBA postseason picture<\/a> is taking shape ahead of the regular-season finale on Sunday. And while the Eastern Conference <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/standings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">middle-of-the-standings traffic jam<\/a> is intriguing, the league MVP race is providing the real drama.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The culprit? A little something called the 65-game rule. Let\u2019s discuss.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83e\udd14 What is the 65-game rule?: <\/strong>Introduced in 2023, the \u201c65-game rule\u201d aimed to course-correct the load management era, in which healthy players sat out of games to rest. In order for players to be eligible for most major awards, including league MVP, they must compete in at least 65 of their team\u2019s 82 games and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7175723\/2026\/04\/07\/nba-awards-eligibility-65-games-tracker\/?source=athletic_thebounce_newsletter&amp;campaign=17553466&amp;userId=137051#:~:text=What%20counts%20as,and%20remain%20eligible.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">log at least 20 minutes<\/a> in each of those tilts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ud83c\udfc6 The impact on the MVP race: <\/strong>Four players dominated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/kia-mvp-ladder-april-3-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MVP conversations<\/a> this season: Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver Nugget Nikola Joki\u0107, San Antonio Spur Victor Wembanyama, and LA Laker Luka Don\u010di\u0107. Could the 65-game rule decide the MVP? It\u2019s entirely possible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2705 SGA has played in 68 games this season, making him eligible to defend his MVP crown after averaging 31.1 points per game.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2194\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/3112335\/nikola-jokic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Triple-double savant<\/a> Joki\u0107 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@__sportsball\/video\/7583361325502450957\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defensive juggernaut<\/a> Wembanyama are both on the cusp of eligibility. And while neither are 100% healthy heading into their team\u2019s last two tilts, they\u2019ll both need to play in at least one game this weekend to meet the league requirement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u2753 Last week\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/lakers\/story\/2026-04-03\/luka-doncic-hamstring-injury-lakers-depth-nba-playoffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hamstring injury<\/a> sidelined Don\u010di\u0107 for the rest of the regular season, but an \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DWr_i25GB_R\/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Extraordinary Circumstance Challenge<\/a>\u201d could keep the Lakers superstar eligible after he missed two games in December for the birth of his daughter. Watch this space.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/65-game-rule-on-the-nba-mvp-race\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: The NBA postseason picture is taking shape ahead of the regular-season finale on Sunday. And while the Eastern Conference middle-of-the-standings traffic jam is intriguing, the league MVP race is providing the real drama. The culprit? A little something called the 65-game rule. Let\u2019s discuss. \ud83e\udd14 What is the 65-game rule?: Introduced in 2023, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-237732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}