Ant has 57 qualified games and counting right now.

Timberwolves only have 8 remaining games in their schedule. This means Ant need to play all those games to meet the exact 65 games requirement.

57 + 8 = 65 games played (qualified for awards)

Cade and Kawhi are closing to be in the same situation too.

Do you think Ant will make it?

Or Ant and Minny will choose to make him ineligible for awards? (In order to have more flexible contract for the team. And Ant to rest more his injury)

nba2k11er | Warriors

109 | 11 hours ago

I have bad news about Cade.

Andy_Wiggins | Timberwolves

48 | 11 hours ago

Ant’s placement on the all-NBA list has zero bearing on his contract. It’s purely about winning an award (maybe important in terms of long-term perception, but minimal impact short-term)

The bigger value is playoff seeding. The Wolves are fighting for seeding (3-6). If they win out, they could plausibly get the 3, or if they perform well and another team falters, they could get the 4 or 5 seed. Securing a matchup against the Rockets would be priority number 1.

rfgrunt | Nuggets

1 | 2 hours ago

Whew, wolves have a decently tough remaining schedule with how the 76ers are playing and the Rockets needing to play for seeding. Nuggets schedule looks hard on paper but it’s likely the final two games against OKC and Spurs are meaningless and it’s reasonable the nuggets only loss is Saturday against the spurs. I think the Lakers have 2-3 more losses this season since they play OKC twice, Cleveland and PHX.

I doubt anyone catches the lakers since they own all the tie breakers .

Lmao1903 | NBA

1 | 8 hours ago

But why does the seeding matter that much, I don’t think Lakers will lose the 3 seed. Nuggets seem to be doing well. I think playing the Lakers round 1 from 6 is not that bad as the worst case scenario. I think the way Houston is playing, they are definitely not getting past Denver so you are either playing the Nuggets or the Lakers if you lose more games which is kind of better?

I think there is no chance you fall to 7 if that’s a concern. Ideally if All-NBA is not important for Ant which it probably is, might as well rest the guy to 120% and let him cook in the playoffs

JaderMcDanersStan | Timberwolves

2 | 3 hours ago

It’s tough - both Nuggets or Lakers would be tough opponents. I’d slightly prefer the Lakers though and a potential 2nd round that’s Spurs, vs Nuggets and a potential 2nd round that’s OKC

RDomination

16 | 11 hours ago

He’ll play, Wolves are fighting for seeding

MeaningDisastrous379

6 | 11 hours ago

damn that’s a tough spot for both ant and the wolves 💀 they’re probably weighing whether pushing through those 8 games is worth the risk vs just saying screw the awards and keeping him healthy for playoffs

if i’m being real the contract flexibility angle is interesting but ant seems like the type who’d want those accolades on his resume. dude’s been balling out this season and missing awards eligibility over 8 games would sting

plus the wolves need every win they can get for seeding so unless his injury is worse than they’re letting on i think he plays through it 😂

DiscardedRonaldo2017

4 | 10 hours ago

At the end of the day there is always gonna be this discussion as long as we have any limit in place at all. Are we going to adjust it every time one of our players misses out (also I know you are talking about any of this OP sorry).

I look at Jokic now as a great example. Dude won’t miss a game because he wants the awards but I think it will hurt Denver in the playoffs if he is so banged up. If Minny are smart they bring him back when he’s ready, no need to rush.

If you miss basically a qtr of the season I do think you should be rubbed out, even if that does mean you only play a handful less than the guy that wins mvp. There has to be some cut off, and it’s definitely working.

PAWGle_the_lesser | Raptors

-6 | 9 hours ago

There doesn’t have to be a cutoff and there’s no evidence that it’s working lol.

BBallHunter | Thunder

6 | 4 hours ago

Can’t say that here.

DiscardedRonaldo2017

3 | 6 hours ago

Of course you can’t have concrete evidence on whether a dude is able to play or not, but it’s clear guys are wanting to stay above that 65 game threshold, that alone is a good thing. Jokic would definitely of missed a back to back since coming back from his injury if there wasn’t a limit, how could anyone prove that though.

MaxR76 | 76ers

0 | 3 hours ago

Yeah you can just make it a factor that voters are obligated to consider without making it a hard line

SpiritFantastic4835 | Lakers

2 | 11 hours ago

Player eligibility is always up to the teams doctors.

axnjxn00 | Magic

1 | 10 hours ago

Is he expected to come back?

urkuri | Timberwolves

7 | 9 hours ago

If this person had bothered to do any research they would know Ant has been cleared for on court practice and there’s talk he could be available the next game, which is on schedule for what the originally said

Curious_Researcher09

1 | 4 hours ago

I think the primary focus is for ant to be as healthy as he can be for the playoffs

Panzer_I | Celtics

1 | 3 hours ago

I think he needs 4 to petition

nbaistheworst

1 | 2 hours ago

He’s on the injury report as a game time decision for tomorrow’s game. My guess is that he will try to stay eligible, but won’t risk being healthy for the playoffs.

xagds

1 | 2 hours ago

None of these guys care that much about these awards. They get paid ungodly amounts of cash to play a game they love. They are good with missing a few awards over maintaining health for a long life to spend all that money lol

Old_Supermarket_7575 | Thunder

1 | 42 minutes ago

It should be a minutes thing not a games played

38mpg for 63 games is so many more minutes then someone playing 29 mpg for 75

JW98_1

0 | 10 hours ago

Even without the rule, a player that plays in only 65 (or less) games would have to have an extraordinary season and is head and shoulders above the next guy to be getting any accolades.

kapesaumaga | Mavericks

2 | 9 hours ago

Yeah, at least there’s a number. It’s not arbitrary. If you want the award, play 65. That’s it, its straightforward.

B4tss

0 | 5 hours ago

Would a loop hole around it be to start him, immediately foul to get him out of the game next 8 games?

dreamweaver7x | Spurs

3 | 3 hours ago

Need to play 20 minutes for the game to count.

Anthony Edwards will need to play all last 8 games of Timberwolves to be eligible (65 games rule)