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As the NBA’s 65-game rule deadline looms in the final regulation stretch, insiders are buzzing about special exemptions for star players sidelined by personal milestones or freak injuries. The controversial rule was introduced by the league in 2023 to curb load management, but it has come under criticism in recent campaigns. One player who might find a loophole to bypass this rule could be Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic.
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The 27-year-old’s timely absence for the birth of his second child in December could align perfectly with the Lakers’ injury-riddled skid. As Doncic and his agent, Bill Duffy, work on filing a petition seeking a family-related exemption to circumvent the NBA’s 65-game criteria.
“Luka Doncic, he’s got a great case for this exception,” NBA reporter Chris Mannix said this afternoon on FanDuel’s Run It Back show. “He’s going to get it because, I mean, missing two games for the birth of his child is quite literally what this exception was designed for. Cade might have a bit of a more difficult time because he’s been out because of injuries, you know, tough injuries, and certainly a crazy one most recently, but I don’t know that he fits into that special exemption that the NBA has in circumstances like this.”
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“Missing 2 games for the birth of his child is quite literally what this exception was designed for.”
Chris Mannix says Luka Doncic’s 65-Game Rule exception is more clear-cut than Cade Cunningham’s 👀@SIChrisMannix | @MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/TvAWvP0S5V
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) April 9, 2026
While Mannix and his colleagues back Doncic, Cunningham might not be as lucky. The Detroit Pistons star missed three weeks with a freak left lung pneumothorax (collapsed lung) sustained on March 17. He returned last night in the 137-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, bagging a double-double (13 points, 10 assists). With just two games left in the season, Cunningham will miss out on the 65-game criteria by just one game.
“Look, I would do it. Talking to people within the NBA, Michelle, they would do it too, but like this is not the NBA,” Mannix added. “It’s an independent arbitrator that decides all this, and this arbitrator could say it doesn’t fit within your rule. So we’re not going to make this exception… Now the NBA does play a role in this, in that, like any arbitration, they can argue their side. I’ve gotten the sense that they have no intention of arguing the Luka Doncic side, that they’re going to let that one just go, and Luka will get that exception.”
Luka Doncic’s exemption quest gains traction as the Lakers’ postseason hopes teeter. With Sunday being touted as the deadline to make any appeals, Doncic faces almost zero resistance due to his MVP-caliber stats.
Since the beginning of March, Luka has averaged 36 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game. Coach JJ Redick’s outburst after the blowout loss to OKC highlights how much the team relied on the Slovenian and Austin Reaves.
Cade Cunningham faces a heartbreaking end to the regulation season
Cunningham is averaging 24.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 9.9 assists in 62 games this campaign. Alongside Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, Cunningham starred for J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad, who sit at the summit of the Eastern Conference table with a 58-22 record. But despite the option of submitting an exemption still on the table, the Pistons shooting guard might not be as lucky.
“I guess that these petitions, these grievances, I guess what they referred to, have to be filed before Sunday, so it’s not on the NBA to just decide what to do. Their respective agents and teams have to file these grievances with the league, and then it goes to the independent arbitrator.”
“I don’t know what their position is going to be on Cade Cunningham. It’s pretty fresh; it’s only been the last 24 hours since he’s been back, but I think that’s going to be interesting. Like, do they go into that arbitration offering a case against him doing this? If they don’t, that could certainly go a long way towards Cade getting that exception,” Sports Illustrated’s Mannix concluded.
Cade Cunningham has been pretty open about where he stands on the NBA’s 65-game rule — and it’s complicated. On one hand, he gets it. He understands the league put the rule in place to stop healthy players from sitting out games unnecessarily, and he respects that.
But on the other hand, when you’re dealing with a real injury and suddenly find yourself on the wrong side of an arbitrary number, that’s a different story. Cunningham himself admitted it’s “tough” to swallow, and that’s putting it mildly.
His agent, Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports, has been far less diplomatic about it. Schwartz went straight to ESPN and made the case plainly: Cade has put together a first-team All-NBA caliber season, and the idea that he could be shut out of award consideration simply because an injury kept him off the floor for a handful of games is, in his words, flat-out “arbitrary.”
His argument is straightforward. The rule was never meant to punish players who are genuinely hurt. Excellence shouldn’t disappear just because someone missed time for the wrong reasons.
What makes this situation worth paying attention to is the tension at the heart of it. Cunningham is trying to be measured and respectful toward the league, while his camp is pushing back hard on a rule they see as too rigid to account for real-world situations.
Cunningham’s exclusion from regular-season awards will be a tough pill to swallow for the 2x All-Star who finished seventh in last year’s MVP rankings (tied with Anthony Edwards). But with playoffs looming and postseason dreams still alive, the Pistons pivot to postseason glory.
Bickerstaff’s battle-tested core, led by Cade’s return, eyes a championship charge, transforming award snubs into championship fuel. At 24, Cunningham’s trajectory soars beyond missed opportunities; the future is bright in Detroit.
Written by
Edited by
Tanay Sahai