SGA Voted 2025 NBA MVP over Jokic, Giannis, LeBron, More in Player Poll

While the official NBA MVP award winner won't be announced for a while, Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was voted the most valuable player for this season by his peers.

Per an anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic's Sam Amick and Josh Robbins, Gilgeous-Alexander received 56.1 percent of the vote from 155 respondents.

Nikola Jokić finished second with 37.4 percent of the vote, followed by Giannis Antetokounmpo (1.9 percent), Donovan Mitchell (1.9 percent) and LeBron James (1.3 percent) rounding out the top five.

A total of seven players received votes, with Cade Cunningham and Stephen Curry tied with 0.6 percent.

The player voting is going to resemble the actual MVP voting, at least in terms of who the top three finishers are going to be. Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić and Antetokounmpo were named finalists for the MVP award on Sunday.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokić are the overwhelming top two candidates. In a straw poll of 100 media members conducted by ESPN's Tim Bontemps released on April 2, Gilgeous-Alexander topped the list with 931 total points and 77 first-place votes.

Jokić was second with 769 points and 23 first-place votes. No other player received a first- or second-place vote.

In explaining their vote for Gilgeous-Alexander, one person told Amick and Robbins that Oklahoma City finishing with an NBA-best 68 wins during the regular season should push him over the top.

"You’ve got to go with Shai," the player said. "It’s the No. 1 team in the West, (and) the way he’s been doing it (has been impressive). He’s taking those young guys to another level."

The voters who favored Jokić leaned heavily on his statistical advantage and being just the third player in NBA history to average a triple-double in a season.

"If you look at the stats blindly and you compare the players, I think it would give Jokić the nod no matter what. I’ve never seen anybody make players on his team better when he’s on the floor more than him," the voter said.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the NBA in scoring during the regular season with 32.7 points per game, 2.3 more than any other player (Antetokounmpo had 30.4). Along with Jokić and Antetokounmpo, Gilgeous-Alexander was one of three players who averaged at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and shot 50 percent from the field.

If the official vote follows the player vote, Gilgeous-Alexander will become the third Thunder player to win the NBA MVP award. Kevin Durant (2013-14) and Russell Westbrook (2016-17) previously received the honor.