MVP race over: Voting for individual NBA awards to be done before resumption of play
League excludes consideration of seeding games to ensure 'a fair process'
The NBA's MVP race is over. So is the battle for every other individual regular-season trophy.
Typically, those votes are cast closer to the end of the regular season. So the post-season races are still going in many cases, but the individual award chases are now complete.
"The decision to exclude seeding games from awards voting ensures a fair process in which players and coaches from all 30 teams will have the same opportunity to be honoured as top performers for the regular season," the NBA wrote in a memo sent to teams Friday. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo.
The league's decision — it was not unexpected — means that Giannis Antetokounmpo's campaign for back-to-back MVP awards technically ended more than four months ago when the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. And it also means that New Orleans' Zion Williamson, who has appeared in only 19 games this season, won't get to make a late push to try and catch presumed top-rookie front-runner Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies.
It's unclear if Williamson will even be with the Pelicans for re-opening night on July 30 when they face the Utah Jazz in the first game at the Disney campus. He left the NBA's so-called bubble Thursday to deal with what the team called "an urgent family medical matter," and the Pelicans said he intends to return at an unspecified date.
Statistical awards up for grabs
Statistical championships, such as the scoring, rebounding, assist and steal titles, are technically up for grabs through the end of the seeding games in mid-August. The league announced that portion of the plan when the schedules for the eight seeding games were released last month.
Cleveland's Andre Drummond has a sizeable lead in the race for the rebound title. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers would remain ahead of second-place Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks in the assist-per-game race even if James plays in all eight seeding games and doesn't register a single assist.
If the 35-year-old James wins the assist title, and it would take a mathematical oddity to keep that from happening, he will be the second-oldest player to claim that award. Steve Nash was 37 when he won his last assists crown.
The steals race is still uncertain; Philadelphia's Ben Simmons leads at 2.13 per game, while Chicago's Kris Dunn — currently in second place — finished his season at 1.98 per game.
