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11/18 05:00 CST This hurts: How injuries to Wembanyama and others could impact
shots at NBA awards
This hurts: How injuries to Wembanyama and others could impact shots at NBA
awards
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer
Let the record show that it's very possible Victor Wembanyama essentially lost
this season's defensive player of the year award in mid-November, in a game
against the Golden State Warriors. And he was dominating that game, too.
But Wembanyama got hurt. Strained left calf. He'll be out for the next two or
three weeks, at least, and that's before he even gets reevaluated. That means
he might miss 10 or more games. And just like that, his chances of getting to
the 65-game threshold needed for consideration for most major NBA postseason
awards are taking a major hit.
Nobody knows what the NBA award votes will look like next spring, when the
latest batch of awards get handed out. But in some cases, it's already getting
easy to deduce who won't be on any of those ballots.
LeBron James --- who hasn't played yet this season and could debut in his
record 23rd year as early as Tuesday for the Los Angeles Lakers --- is on the
brink of being eliminated from contention for the All-NBA team already, simply
because he hasn't played yet. And if he doesn't make All-NBA --- put simply,
he'll basically have to play just about every game the rest of the way to have
a chance --- it'll end a 21-year streak of him being part of the league's most
elite annual list.
Same goes for Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams; he made All-NBA last season but
hasn't played yet this season and is basically on the brink of ineligibility.
Miami's Tyler Herro saw his All-NBA hopes end without him missing a shot; he
hasn't played yet this season, either. And now, it's a very real possibility
that Wembanyama might be out of the awards mix for a second straight year; his
2024-25 season ended early because of deep vein thrombosis, or else he almost
certainly would have been defensive player of the year and All-NBA.
"Every year I try to come in with a mindset of playing the most games
possible," Herro said. "Not necessarily for accolades or anything like that ---
I just want to be on the floor as much as possible. That's what they pay me to
do."
But he needed surgery a few weeks before training camp. His season didn't end.
His awards shot pretty much did. And that's the reality of the movement against
load management --- the fancy term used to explain players resting more often
than the league would prefer. The NBA worked with players and came up with the
65-game threshold for most awards, with hopes it would make players play more
often. For the most part, it should be noted that everyone understands and
agrees with having some sort of benchmark number.
Thing is, injuries happen. And one extended injury absence is too much to
overcome from an awards standpoint.
Boston's Jayson Tatum, Portland's Damian Lillard and Indiana's Tyrese
Haliburton knew months ago that their All-NBA appearance odds were kaput going
into this season because of their Achilles tears in last season's playoffs.
(Haliburton will miss the entire season.) Dallas' Kyrie Irving tore his ACL
last season; he won't be winning any awards this season while he recovers. It
wouldn't seem likely that the oft-injured Zion Williamson of New Orleans and
Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers will make their way to the ballots in
April; they've both missed a ton of games already.
This is the point in the schedule where some deductions can be made on the
award matters, since as soon as Wednesday, some teams will be playing their
17th game of the season. Every team will get there in the next week or so. And
for those players who haven't played yet, that means getting to 65 isn't really
that possible.
Herro might be back for the Heat by next week. But he knows that's probably too
late for award nods.
"I think it's fair at the end of the day," Herro said. "You know, some players
play 40 games that have those numbers, and then it's like ... you played half
the season. So, at the end of the day, it's about playing and being out there
as much as you can for as many games as possible. Again, what they pay us
players to do is be on the floor. That's what I want to do."
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