Midway through the 2025-26 season, the biggest questions related to individual awards involve who will play enough games to qualify.
Nikola Jokic remains a favorite for the NBA MVP award despite missing time with a knee injury. (David Zalubowski/AP)
The NBA’s end-of-season award races are always hotly debated, but this year’s ballots could be complicated by a tangle of unintended consequences.
In 2023, the league began mandating that award winners play at least 65 games to be eligible. The new policy was designed to cut down on “load management,” or the strategic resting of star players.