LOS ANGELES \u2014 The NBA\u2019s early-season injury epidemic is one that has been difficult to ignore, with leading men such as Anthony Edwards, Kawhi Leonard, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Paolo Banchero sidelined for extended periods.<\/p>\n
Already this season, the Heat have gone against a Charlotte Hornets roster<\/a> lacking Kon Knueppel\u00a0 and Coby White, an Indiana Pacers squad lacking<\/a> Tyrese Halliburton and Ivica Zubac, with Jalen Duran and Ausar Thompson injured for the Detroit Pistons during their Heat matchup.<\/p>\n For Erik Spoelstra\u2019s squad, so far, so good.<\/p>\n But to Giannis Antetokounmpo, good also is not good enough.<\/p>\n Limited to 36 games with the Milwaukee Bucks last season by a variety of reasons, Antetokounmpo has failed to reach what would have been the NBA 65-game threshold for award eligibility in four of the past seven seasons (the rule was adopted starting with the 2023\u201324 season).<\/p>\n Eligible to sign a four-year $276 million extension as of Jan. 6, Antetokounmpo stressed that staying power is the goal.<\/p>\n And for more than award eligibility or salary.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to just stop at your 65th game,\u201d Antetokounmpo said to the Sun Sentinel in a private moment, with the Heat opening their five-game western swing Monday night against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n \u201cLast year was the first time I played in my career that I played so few games, and it was something I did not like. I did not like sitting and watching the games. I love being out there, I love competing.\u201d<\/p>\n The love for the game, Antetokounmpo, 31, insisted, goes beyond award eligibility. It is, he said, about being in the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cI find when you sit and you watch the game, it\u2019s kind of boring,\u201d he said in a moment of candor. \u201cI\u2019ve been used to being in the battle, I\u2019m used to getting my hands dirty every single time.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s also used to being in the conversation when it comes to individual hardware, voted NBA Most Valuable Player in 2019 and \u201920, when he also was voted Defensive Player of the Year, and nine times on All-NBA teams and five times on All-Defensive teams. Each of those honors now requires meeting the 65-game threshold.<\/p>\n With any degree of Heat success, receiving such votes again should be expected, provided the games played are ample.<\/p>\n \u201cThe rule for me, I don\u2019t necessarily care about the rule,\u201d he said of the 65-game award mandate. \u201cWhat I care about is to try to have the healthiest season that I can have, right?<\/p>\n \u201cIf that\u2019s to play 65 games, so be it. If that\u2019s to play 75 games, so be it.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been plenty of seasons with plenty of games. Antetokounmpo appeared in 73 games as recently as 2023-24.<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to play games, because I kind of miss playing basketball,\u201d he said in the wake of the 2025-26 season, when he challenged the tanking Bucks over having him sit out at season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n \u201cI know if I stay healthy, to have the mindset to stay healthy, and if I work hard, then I will be mentioned with the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n So far, so good, getting up after each time being knocked down, already with a league-high 16 and-one opportunities going into this five-game trip.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mindset is being free, playing with joy,\u201d he said, \u201cand I have to be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n Here is Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s placement in MVP voting by season:<\/p>\n 2013-14: No votes as rookie. Winner:\u00a0 Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n 2014\u201315: No votes. Winner: Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n 2015\u201316: No votes. Winner: Curry<\/p>\n 2016\u201317: 17th (tie). Winner: Russell Westbrook.<\/p>\n 2017\u201318: 6th. Winner: James Harden. (Finished behind Harden, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Westbrook.)<\/p>\n 2018\u201319: Winner.<\/p>\n 2019\u201320: Winner.<\/p>\n 2020\u201321: 4th. Winner: Nikola Joki\u0107. (Finished behind Joki\u0107, Joel Embiid, Curry.)<\/p>\n 2021\u201322: 3rd. Winner: Joki\u0107. (Finished behind Joki\u0107,\u00a0 Embiid.)<\/p>\n 2022\u201323: 3rd. Winner: Embiid. (Finished behind Embiid, Joki\u0107.)<\/p>\n 2023\u201324: 4th. Winner: Joki\u0107. (Finished behind Joki\u0107, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Don\u010di\u0107.)<\/p>\n 2024\u201325: 3rd. Winner: Gilgeous-Alexander.\u00a0 (Finished behind: Gilgeous-Alexander, Joki\u0107.)<\/p>\n 2025-26: Ineligible (appeared in only 36 games). Winner: Gilgeous-Alexander.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2014 The NBA\u2019s early-season injury epidemic is one that has been difficult to ignore, with leading…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,124,2295,110],"class_list":["post-445224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-latest-headlines","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-heat","tag-miami-news","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}