Anthony Edwards is officially ineligible for All-NBA and MVP voting.
Anthony Edwards will not be eligible for All-NBA or MVP voting this season, and the way it happened is exactly why the 65-game rule is so controversial. The Timberwolves rested Edwards on Thursday night against the Pistons to manage knee pain, and that dropped him below the threshold.
Edwards has played in 59 games this season but only 58 count toward the league's eligibility standard — one October appearance lasted just three minutes, which the NBA classifies as an absence. With six games left, he can't reach 65. The 24-year-old was a lock for at least second-team All-NBA after posting career-best numbers across multiple categories.
The NBPA has had enough. The players' union called for the 65-game rule to be abolished last month after Cade Cunningham's collapsed lung knocked him out of award contention. The rule was designed to stop stars from taking rest days, but it keeps punishing legitimately injured players instead. Edwards is the latest casualty of a policy that almost nobody in the league likes anymore.