Every NBA season produces a handful of debates that divide fans, analysts, and locker rooms alike. But the 2025-26 MVP race, despite featuring some of the most absurd individual performances in recent memory, may have produced the closest thing to a consensus winner we have seen in years.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has not just been the best player on the best team. He has done it while carrying a roster hit hard by injuries, putting together numbers that place him alongside names like Chamberlain, Jordan, and Robertson in the league’s record books. And if the closing odds and peer recognition are anything to go by, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard is about to make history once again.
An analyst at Gambling.com, a leading authority on trends across online casino platforms and sports betting markets, noted that the MVP races rarely show this type of late-season clarity. “What makes this year unusual is how quickly the narrative settled”, they said. “Typically, even dominant statistical seasons leave room for debate, but Gilgeous-Alexander’s consistency has removed much of that uncertainty”. They added, “When both performance metrics and peer sentiment align this strongly, it tends to signal a runaway outcome rather than a contested finish.”
SGA’s Case: Consistency as a Superpower
The raw numbers alone tell a compelling story. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting an absurd 55.3 percent from the field. He led the Thunder to the best record in the Western Conference at 64-18, all while Jalen Williams, his primary running mate and fellow All-Star, missed 49 games due to wrist and hamstring injuries.
But what separates SGA from the pack this season is his relentless consistency. His streak of consecutive games scoring 20 or more points now stands at 140, a mark that surpassed Wilt Chamberlain’s record on March 12. Night after night, regardless of matchup, venue, or circumstance, Gilgeous-Alexander delivered.
His footwork in the mid-range has drawn comparisons to Jordan and Kobe Bryant. He attacks the rim with purpose, stretches defenses from deep, and creates open looks for teammates as naturally as any perimeter player in the league. When ESPN’s final MVP straw poll was released, SGA received 88 out of 100 first-place votes. No other candidate received more than eight.
Perhaps the most telling endorsement came from the players themselves. In The Athletic’s anonymous poll of 161 NBA players, Gilgeous-Alexander earned 39 percent of the vote, nearly doubling the support given to the second-place finisher. When a third of the league’s workforce says you are the best, the conversation is effectively over.
Jokic Made History Too
In any other year, Nikola Jokic would be running away with the award. The Denver Nuggets centre averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game, becoming the first player in NBA history to lead the league in both rebounds and assists while averaging north of 28 points on 67 percent true shooting.
Only Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 and Jokic himself last season have posted comparable stat lines. The man continues to rewrite the record books at age 31, doing so despite missing 16 games with a knee injury that had the basketball world holding its breath. He earned 21.4 percent of the player vote, a strong second-place finish that underscores just how dominant his season was.
The Nuggets went on a 12-game winning streak to close the season and locked up the third seed in the West. Jokic was the engine behind all of it. But his case ultimately suffered from the same thing that boosts it: context. SGA did what he did with less help, on a team that never slipped from the top of the standings.
The Dark Horses Who Made This Race Special
What makes this MVP conversation richer than most is the depth of candidates pushing from behind.
Victor Wembanyama, the likely Defensive Player of the Year, powered the San Antonio Spurs to the second seed in the West and made a compelling public case for himself in late March. Despite receiving just 5 percent of the player vote, his two-way impact is undeniable and his trajectory suggests this will not be his last time in the conversation.
Jaylen Brown kept the Boston Celtics among the league’s elite after the team lost Jrue Holiday in a trade, sent Kristaps Porzingis to Atlanta, and saw Jayson Tatum miss the bulk of the season with an Achilles injury. Brown’s line of 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, paired with elite defence, made him a legitimate contender.
Luka Doncic led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Cade Cunningham’s breakout in Detroit (23.9 points, 9.9 assists) would have earned him more attention if not for the league’s 65-game eligibility rule cutting his candidacy short.
What a Back-to-Back MVP Means
If Gilgeous-Alexander takes the award home, he will become just the 14th player in NBA history to win consecutive MVPs. That list includes Bird, Magic, Jordan, LeBron, Curry, Giannis, and Jokic. It is not just a collection of great players. It is the most exclusive club in basketball.
What is striking about SGA’s candidacy is the way he earns it. There is no single viral moment or signature highlight that defines his season. Instead, it is the accumulation of excellence, the quiet dominance of a player who shows up and dismantles defences with surgical precision every single night. His March 9 duel with Jokic was a perfect encapsulation: 35 points, 15 assists, nine rebounds, zero turnovers, and two clutch threes in the final 14 seconds to seal a 129-126 win.
For basketball fans who want to go deeper on the tactical side of what makes this era of the NBA so compelling, podcasts like Hoop Heads are an excellent resource for breaking down the matchups, coaching decisions, and player development stories that shape these races.
The official announcement is still to come. But for all practical purposes, the verdict is in. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP, and his place among the game’s all-time greats is no longer a matter of potential. It is a matter of record.