NBA Players Reveal MVP Pick Between SGA, Wemby, Jokic, Luka in New Anonymous Poll

The NBA media and players are in agreement that Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP of the 2025-26 season.

In an anonymous poll of 159 players asking for the NBA MVP this season conducted by The Athletic, Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 39 percent of the vote.

Nikola Jokić was second with 21.4 percent of the vote, followed by Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham and Luka Dončić tied for third at 8.2 percent.

"Shai has been super consistent," one player who voted for Gilgeous-Alexander said. "They've had injuries, and he's stayed consistent. We take it for granted, (but) he scores at least 20 every night. He's had a lot of his guys injured, and they're still No. 1 in the West."

One player who voted for Jokić made the determination because he is "probably the best player on the planet."

The most notable result was Victor Wembanyama in sixth with five percent of the vote.

The Athletic did note it started sending requests out in late February, so perhaps there were some early respondents who felt what someone like Brown was doing as the No. 1 option in Boston or Cunningham did in leading the Detroit Pistons to the top of the Eastern Conference standings was more valuable than Wembanyama's contributions for the Spurs.

It's worth noting that Cunningham, who is at 62 games played with two games remaining, won't be eligible for the award due to the 65-game rule.

Dončić could be eligible for postseason awards after filing an extraordinary circumstances challenge. He will finish the regular season with 64 games played after suffering a hamstring injury last week, but his grievance will be built around missing two games in December for the birth of his child.

It's also apparent that players didn't care about, or at least weren't asked to consider the 65-game rule because Giannis Antetokounmpo is ninth in the poll despite playing just 36 games this season.

All signs have indicated Gilgeous-Alexander was going to win MVP for awhile. He was far and away the top choice in the recent media straw poll of potential voters conducted by ESPN's Tim Bontemps that was released on April 3.

The differences between the media and player vote are interesting. Bontemps' poll has Wembanyama in second, followed by Jokić and Dončić.

If Gilgeous-Alexanders wins the award, he will become the first repeat MVP since Jokić in 2020-21 and 2021-22. He will also become the 16th player in NBA history with at least two MVP awards.