Luka Doncic and his team will apply for an Extraordinary Circumstances Challenge on the NBA’s 65-game rule for the LA Lakers superstar’s end-of-season awards consideration. Doncic’s agent, Bill Duffy, released a statement on Friday saying that they will ask the league to keep the point guard eligible for individual honors. Doncic is stuck at 64 games after a hamstring injury has ruled him out for the rest of the regular season.
NBC Sports analyst and former NBA player Tracy McGrady shared his thoughts on what Doncic’s team plans to do:
“It’s the birth of his child, it’s not an injury. It’s not load management. This is the birth of his child, where you gotta fly to another country. I’m sure the league is gonna do right by that.
Carmelo Anthony, another former NBA player who now works as an analyst for NBC Sports, added:
“This is the international players. If they need to get back to take care of family matters and they missing games, they shouldn’t be penalized for that.”
Luka Doncic missed two games early in December to fly home to Slovenia for the birth of his second daughter. Duffy is contending that this is an extraordinary circumstance that the league should consider. Had Doncic played in either one of those games, he would be eligible for end-of-season awards.
Doncic suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter against the OKC Thunder. After undergoing an MRI in Dallas, the Lakers announced that he is dealing with a Grade 2 strain, forcing the team to shut him down for the remainder of the regular season.
The former Dallas Mavericks superstar is averaging an NBA-best 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds. He was the Player of the Month in March after putting up 37.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 7.4 apg. The Lakers were 14-2 during that span, a stretch that pushed them to No. 3 in the Western Conference.
Luka Doncic will remain an MVP contender if his team wins the challenge.
Fans React to Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony Predicting NBA Will Keep Luka Doncic in MVP Contention
With thousands watching the Lakers-Mavericks showdown, it didn’t take long for fans to react to Tracy McGrady and Carmelo Anthony’s comments about Luka Doncic. One fan wrote:
“With or without the rule, he still isn’t MVP this season.”
Another fan added:
“Rules should not be broken to accommodate that.”
One more fan continued:
“They should be talking about Luka’s bad behavior for getting techs.”
Another fan commented:
“Who hired Melo?? Brings less insight than anyone (and that’s saying a lot considering Perk, SAS, et al).
One fan tweeted:
“If (Doncic) didn’t throw temper tantrums on the court to get 16 techs, he wouldn’t have been suspended for 1 game. … He would have played 65 games.”
Only time will tell if Luka Doncic will emerge victorious in the challenge. If considered, he will still not likely win the MVP, but an All-NBA First Team selection is almost guaranteed.
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