The NBA has decided that players making their NBA bubble debut – a team led in particular by Denver Nuggets striker Bol Bol – will remain eligible for the Rookie of the Year award for the 2020-21 season, reportedly by ESPN.
After Bol, a 7-foot-2 striker on a two-way deal with the Nuggets, he did not play in an NBA game before the championship ended in March. He impressed in the Walt Disney World Resort bubble scrimmages, so the question arose as to whether Bol would be eliminated from the Rookie of the Year contention next season if he played in one of the Denver seeding games this summer.
Voters had to submit their picks for this year’s awards to the league office by 11:59 pm on Tuesday. According to sources, the NBA’s decision is due to the fact that, as seeding games don’t count for this year’s vote, there is no point in penalizing a player like Bol from next season’s eligibility.
Bol, son of Manute Bol, had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks in 32 minutes in Denver’s 89-82 victory over Washington last Wednesday. He followed with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks in a 119-104 defeat against New Orleans on Sunday and 10 points, 6 rebounds and a block in 19 minutes in a 114-110 loss against Orlando on Monday.
Bol was the 44th selector in the June NBA draft after his solitary season in Oregon was interrupted by a foot injury.
Denver, who enters the NBA restart in third place in the Western Conference, will begin seeding games at 1:00 pm on Saturday against Miami Heat.
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