Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic and Detroit Pistons’ Cade Cunningham are eligible to win NBA end-of-season awards after successful appeals.
Traditionally, players must feature in a minimum of 65 regular season games to be eligible, but Cunningham played 63 and Doncic played 64.
Doncic, 27, and Cunningham, 24, both lodged challenges to the rule due to “extraordinary circumstances”.
Cunningham missed 12 games with a collapsed lung, while Doncic missed two for the birth of his daughter in Slovenia – both reasons were cited by the NBA as part of the exemptions.
The ruling means that they are now in contention for awards including MVP and All-NBA teams.
Doncic has scored a league-high 2,143 points during the regular season to help the Lakers reach the play-offs and was recently named as the player to sell the most shirts across Europe and the Middle East.
Cunningham ranks second in the league for assists (634), with the Pistons also through to the play-offs as they sit top of the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves played 60 games but was denied his appeal to be given allowance.