Play-off seedings on the line as gruelling NBA regular-season comes to close
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Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic needs to play at least 15 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs on April 12 to meet the minimum 65-game requirement to be eligible for end-of-season awards.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES – The National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season concludes on April 12 (April 13, Singapore time) with 10 post-season seedings still to be determined and the Denver Nuggets facing a big decision regarding three-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) Nikola Jokic.
The Eastern Conference fifth to 10th seeds are still to be determined with three teams – the Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers – still in with a chance to claim the sixth seed and avoid the play-in.
The Western Conference third and fourth seeds are still in play, with the Nuggets one game up on the Los Angeles Lakers.
With home-court advantage in the first round assured for the Nuggets and Lakers, Denver coach David Adelman must decide whether to rest banged-up star Jokic for a second straight game – even though the Serb needs to play at least 15 minutes against the San Antonio Spurs on April 12 to meet the minimum 65-game requirement to be eligible for end-of-season awards.
“We’re going to have that conversation” Adelman said. “Obviously, his opinion matters.”
Adelman sat all of his starters on April 10 and the Nuggets still got a win over the defending champions Oklahoma City Thunder, who with the West top seed and best record in the league locked up, rested most of their starters too.
He said having key players healthy after a physically and mentally draining 82-game regular-season was his top priority. But the 65-game threshold for season honours is a factor when it comes to Jokic, who missed 16 games in January with a knee injury but is averaging a triple-double and is set to become the first player in history to lead the league in assists and rebounds per game.
“We’ve got to make a proper decision, and we need to go in there with a real plan,” Adelman said.
The dozens of players who sat out the April 10 games across the league did not include San Antonio star Victor Wembanyama, who scored 40 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as he played his 65th game to ensure his eligibility for Defensive Player of the Year and MVP honours.
“If I had 65 (games) before, I for sure wouldn’t have played,” said Wembanyama, who missed the previous game with a bruised rib and could sit out the clash with Denver.
The 65-game rule has left a number of standout players out in the cold because of injury absences, including the Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards and the Lakers’ Luka Doncic.
Cunningham is back for East top seeds Detroit after missing 11 games with a collapsed lung. Edwards missed significant time with a knee injury.
Doncic, the league’s leading scorer, is nursing a hamstring strain that cost him the last five games of the regular season and could sideline him to start the play-offs. His agent has indicated Doncic will seek an “extraordinary circumstances” waiver to the 65-game rule.
Said Wembanyama: “It’s an interesting question. If those three, especially Cade and Luka, aren’t in the end-of-season awards (race), it’s not going to reflect their impact on the season.”
The 65-game rule was implemented in 2023 to discourage teams from resting uninjured players.
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr says the league needs something even more radical to keep players healthy: a shorter season.
“We need fewer games,” he said in March, with a month left in the gruelling campaign that started on Oct 21 and could finish as late as June 19. AFP
