NBA media irked by rule that makes Knicks star ineligible for major award

New York Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo.

Many members of the NBA media are incredulous over what has happened with Donte DiVincenzo.

Some media members intended to cast a vote for DiVincenzo in the NBA’s Most Improved Player balloting. However, they were disappointed to learn that DiVincenzo is ineligible to receive votes for the award. And it all has to do with the NBA’s new minimum games played requirement.

The NBA implemented new criteria for minimum games played in order for a player to be eligible for postseason awards, such as league MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. The rules, which require players to participate in at least 65 games, were intended to curb the issue of players resting too frequently, which has become a problem. However, the new rules were not carefully crafted enough, and the result is a player like DiVincenzo being left out in the dust.

DiVincenzo is ineligible for the award despite playing in 81 of 82 regular-season games, including 63 starts. The problem is that early in the season, DiVincenzo came off the bench and frequently played fewer than 20 minutes in a game. A player needs to have played at least 20 minutes in a game for it to count as an official game played for this criteria.

DiVincenzo finished the season strong for the Knicks and averaged a career-high 15.5 points per game while shooting 40.1 percent on three-pointers.

Here are some of the NBA media members who complained about what happened:

The problem isn’t with the new criteria implemented by the league. The games played criteria has positive intentions. The issue is that there should be a different criteria specific for the Most Improved Player award that allows for more leeway and recognition that an improved player might not have received a ton of playing time to begin a season.

Jonathan Kuminga is another player in similar circumstances to DiVincenzo who would likely receive votes if he qualified for the award.

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