Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the 2025-26 NBA Most Valuable Player, the NBA announced Sunday evening. After a hotly debated race featuring a rotating cast of candidates throughout the season, the Thunder star and defending winner retained his crown after a historically efficient offensive season. Nikola Jokić of the Nuggets and Victor Wembanyama of the Spurs finished second and third, respectively, and were the other two finalists.
Voting Results
SGA received 83 of the 100 first-place votes. Jokić got 10, Wembanyama received five and Pistons star Cade Cunningham, who finished fifth in the voting behind fourth-place Luka Dončić, got two first-place votes.
2026 NBA MVP Voting Results
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Nikola Jokić
- Victor Wembanyama
- Luka Dončić
- Cade Cunningham
Statistical Excellence
Though Gilgeous-Alexander's raw scoring technically went down from 32.7 to 31.1 points per game, he went about scoring those points far more efficiently. Gilgeous-Alexander closed the season shooting 55.3% from the floor, 38.6% on 3s and 87.9% on free throws.
The only other player to ever achieve those shooting percentages on more than 250 total shots was Kevin Durant, who did it in 47 games during the 2022-23 season. Gilgeous-Alexander did it in 68 and still managed to finish his season with fewer total turnovers and almost twice as many assists.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored the second-most points per game in the NBA at 31.1, trailing only Luka Dončić, but he did so while averaging the 42nd-most touches per game, 66.6. This meant that Gilgeous-Alexander nearly scored one point for every two times he touched the ball.
He led the team with the most regular-season wins, 64, and he did so with his only teammate who had made an All-Star Game before this season, Jalen Williams, playing 33 diminished games.
Team Context
Only two Thunder players, Cason Wallace and Isaiah Joe, managed to play 70 games this season, and several key pieces like Ajay Mitchell, Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein missed 25 or more games.
Candidacy Competition
Gilgeous-Alexander was nearly the wire-to-wire favorite for the award, but throughout the season, a number of different players made runs at his trophy. It started with three-time winner Jokić, who opened the season with two historic offensive months. A knee injury hampered his candidacy, so from there, voters looked at the leaders of the two surprising Eastern Conference contenders: Cade Cunningham in Detroit and Jaylen Brown in Boston.
Neither wound up factoring meaningfully into the race, but historic second halves from Dončić and Wembanyama made things interesting in March. Dončić ultimately fell out of the hunt after getting hurt in a blowout loss to Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder. Wembanyama's lack of minutes doomed his candidacy, and despite a late push, Jokić just couldn't make up for the time he missed or his deficiencies as a defender.
Historic Achievement
Now Gilgeous-Alexander is in historic company. He is now the 16th player in NBA history to win multiple MVP awards:
- Two-time winners: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, Steve Nash and Bob Pettit
- Three-time winners: Jokić, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone
- Four-time winners: Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James
- Five-time winners: Michael Jordan and Bill Russell
- Six-time winner: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Among those multi-time winners, Gilgeous-Alexander is the 14th player to win the award consecutively. Every other multi-time winner besides Malone and Pettit did so.
Gilgeous-Alexander's victory now marks eight straight victories for players born outside of the United States. Antetokounmpo won two, followed by two for Jokić, one for Joel Embiid, another for Jokić and then Gilgeous-Alexander's first trophy. Gilgeous-Alexander joins Nash as Canada's second two-time winner.
This is Gilgeous-Alexander's age-27 season, which would historically suggest he will be right back in the mix for future MVP awards.