In any sport, there are certain "thresholds" that must be met in order to be considered for an award. The most important of these is the number of games played, or minutes played.
For Donte DiVicenzo, who plays for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), this is something he's going to regret this season.
DiVicenzo has played in 81 games for the Knicks this season, averaging 15.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. That's a huge improvement from last season, when he averaged 9.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while playing for the Golden State Warriors.
For this reason, DiVicenzo was one of the strongest candidates for the Most Improved Player (MIP) award before the season ended. However, due to a change in the rules of the award, he will not be able to receive it this season.
"DiVincenzo was the strongest candidate for the MIP," ESPN said on Monday. He was one of the strongest candidates for the MIP and would have been eligible with just a few more seconds to play," ESPN said.
The NBA changed the rules this season to require players to play in at least 65 games, with 20 minutes or more in 63 of those games and 15 minutes or more in the other two games to be eligible for the award.
Di Vincenzo averaged 29.1 minutes per game, which on the surface doesn't seem to be a problem. However, his low minutes early in the season became a problem. DiVincenzo played more than 20 minutes in 62 of 81 games. Notably, he played 19:51 minutes against the Orlando Magic on Dec. 30 of last year, needing just nine more seconds on the court to qualify for the award.
There are quite a few other players who were ineligible for the award for the same reason as DiVincenzo. Jonas Valanciunas (New Orleans) was ineligible for the individual award after starting all 82 games. Isaiah Hartenstein (New York Knicks), who was one of the favorites for the All-Defensive Team, was also ineligible for the same reason.
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