Donovan Mitchell's All-NBA Status Could Be Affected By Injury, Cavaliers News
The NBA MVP race this season has been as close as it can get. The front-runner for the award has changed from week to week and Donovan Mitchell's name has one that has popped up as a candidate for the way he's led the Cleveland Cavaliers this season.
However, Mitchell is on the verge of being deemed ineligible for MVP and All-NBA Team honors.
This is because of the number of games he's already missed and is set to miss over the next week. A new rule introduced by the NBA in early October stated that players must play a minimum of 65 games (just under 80%) of games in order to be eligible for major league awards.
As it stands, Mitchell has played in 47 games this season with 22 games remaining. The Cavaliers' superstar guard is already set to miss at least the next three games after receiving an injection to treat a left knee bone bruise.
This means if (and that's a big if) he returns this weekend after the three-game absence, Mitchell will only be allowed to miss one more game the rest of the way or will be unable to receive All-NBA honors.
Feb 12, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) brings the ball up court during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
© Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
This new rule has already been received with some controversy by fans and players.
Joel Embiid was getting close to being disqualified from MVP consideration in the middle of January due to the games he'd missed. He was easily the frontrunner for the award but the nagging injuries added up and put that in jeopardy. (This all happened before Embiid tore his meniscus which all but ended his MVP campaign.)
Whether Mitchell qualifies for All-NBA remains to be seen. What we do know is that Spida is putting together arguably the best season of his career as he's currently averaging 28.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 6.2 assists a game.
