NBA: Seeding Games Won't Count Towards Annual Awards

When voters decide on winners of the NBA's 2020 annual awards, they won't take the final eight seeding games down in Orlando into account, according to The Atheltic's Shams Charania.

For some players, that could be a bad thing. Overall, though, the decision to exclude the final eight games in the award races is a logical one. As only 22 teams made the cut to join the NBA's bubble down in Orlando, there could be a few candidates who won't have eight extra games to state their case.

Therefore, the players who performed like the league's MVP, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc. will be based on performances ranging from late October up until March 11, the day the NBA suspended action.

For the Philadelphia 76ers, this could be good news for one of their members. Throughout the 2019-2020 NBA season, Sixers' third-year All-Star Ben Simmons was having quite the season on the defensive side of the ball.

As Simmons led the NBA in steals-per-game, the young guard had a legitimate chance at taking home the hardware. Unfortunately, Simmons' regular season ended weeks before the league went on a hiatus. After going down with a back injury in February, Simmons' chances of winning Defensive Player of the Year spiraled down as there was a good chance he would miss the team's final 28 games.

Instead, Simmons has only missed eleven of the games that will count towards the award. Having the final eight seeding games count towards the award races could've benefitted Simmons, but either way, it's a favorable scenario for the third-year guard.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_