Karl-Anthony Towns played in 75 regular season games for the New York Knicks in the 2025-26 campaign. But the NBA's infamous 65-game rule might still affect his changes of making one of the three All-NBA teams either way.
Award voting is already a mess, with plenty of debate surrounding the games played threshold and voting delayed by Luka Doncic's appeal to have a couple of his absences excused. Media members typically get their ballots before the Play-In Tournament even begins, but might now be affected by its results this season – whether they want to be or not.
Towns' potential spot on any of those All-NBA squads was no lock before the first four tournament games on Tuesday and Wednesday night. But Deni Avdija's 41-point, seven-rebound, 12-assist performance in the Portland Trail Blazers' upset win on the road against the Phoenix Suns might make it even harder for the star big man to get the recognition.
NBA's Scheduling Gods gave Avdija an extra chance to beat out Towns
The Trail Blazers' 42-40 regular season campaign was led by Avdija and his play, which was recognized in the form of an All-Star appearance. Towns himself was named to his sixth All-Star game, but has inarguably had an up-and-down season as he's adjusted to new head coach Mike Brown's offense (and as the coach has adjusted to his preferences and style of play.)
While Deni's Play-In performance isn't supposed to impact his All-NBA bid, the unique situation caused by Doncic's appeal of the 65-game rule disqualifying him from receiving any regular season honors could easily end up impacting voters' ballots.
The Rookie of the Year race might be affected by the exact same fate. While Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg turned in a remarkable rookie campaign, Charlotte Hornets guard Kon Knueppel simply had the better debut season at the NBA level – particularly with regard to the spirit of the award and Charlotte finishing the regular season with 18 more wins than Dallas.
Knueppel's rough outing in the Hornets' narrow Play-In escape over the Miami Heat, though, could end up having the exact same effect on his chances of winning Rookie of the Year. In 34 minutes against the Heat, he scored just six points on 2-12 FG and while missing all six of his 3-point attempts.
While Towns didn't have any kind of dud whatsoever in the Play-In, the fact that the Knicks were too good to take part in it might weirdly end up coming around to bite him here. It should be straightforward for team success to matter most, but contract incentives being tied into All-NBA placements makes every game worth fighting for in the cases of these stars.
The problem with Avdija's standout performance is that Towns won't get a chance to respond at all. And that might end up resulting in him getting left off of the All-NBA Third team, which is probably where he'll end up if he does make the cut.
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