Matt Johnson
Who will win NBA MVP? The 2025-26 NBA season is nearing its conclusion, with recent excellence from Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic shaking up the race. While it’s still largely a two-man battle right now, this year’s NBA MVP rankings will be very interesting.
With only a few weeks left in the regular season, let’s dive into our latest top five in the NBA MVP race today.
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
It takes absolute dominance from a star player on one of the league’s best teams to win back-to-back MVPs. With the run Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having down the stretch for the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, he should join Nikola Jokic (2021-22), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-20), and Stephen Curry (2014-16) as back-to-back NBA MVP winners. Win Shares per 48 Minutes, which is often a strong indicator of who’ll win MVP, sees Gilgeous-Alexander (.333) leading Jokic (.319) by a significant margin. Putting SGA’s WS/48 into perspective, it would be the second-highest ever in a single season, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (.3399) in 1971-72. Since the reigning MVP returned from his injury, Oklahoma City is 9-0 with him in the lineup. He’s averaged 29.9 points, 7.7 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game with just 2.1 turnovers per contest and he’s posted a 57.3 percent effective field goal percentage. Leading the team with the best record in the NBA is just the icing on the cake for his MVP candidacy.
Read More: 2026 NBA Mock Draft Before March Madness
2. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic should arguably be a four-time NBA MVP, if not for SGA’s phenomenal season a year ago and voters deciding to gift the award to Joel Embiid two years prior. Since returning from injury, Jokic has averaged 26.2 points, 13.4 rebounds, 9.9 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1 block per game with a .567 eFG. He’s back to his normal self and has more triple-doubles this season (27) than the players with the second (Jalen Johnson, 13) and third-most (Josh Giddey, 12) combined despite missing significant time with the knee injury. Unfortunately for Jokic, Denver has also posted just a 10-12 record since his return and it’ll enter the weekend sixth in the Western Conference. Team success carries some weight and for as impressive as Jokic has been, the time missed due to injury paired with Denver’s record put him below SGA.
3. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs won 57 games combined in the last two seasons coming into the 2025-26 campaign. With a healthy Victor Wembanyama, this team is already at 52 and on pace for its best season in a decade. Let’s also keep in mind that he just turned 22 years old in January, and this is only the second time in three years that he’s played 50-plus games. Ever since he rejoined the starting lineup in San Antonio, following his return from injury, Wembanyama has averaged 24.5 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. He’s also averaged 2.4 three-pointers per game during this run, with the Spurs posting a phenomenal 25-6 record in the last 31 games with Wembanyama in the lineup. He’s also going to run away with winning Defensive Player of the Year, too. The NBA MVP award won’t be his this season, but we’re probably just a year away from him winning both DPOY and MVP.
4. Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers
Nico Harrison is miserable right now and the Los Angeles Lakers resemble an NBA Finals contender with the way Luka Doncic has played lately. During this eight-game win streak, Doncic has averaged 40.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 2.4 steals per game. He’s accomplishing all this while shooting 50.2 percent from the field, making 6.1 three-pointers per game, and even averaging 8 free-throws made per contest. Oh, even sweeter for Los Angeles, he’s playing passable defense. Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer, has made 83 three-pointers (5.2 3PM per game) and scored 561 points (35.1 PPG) in his last 16 contests. We’re not ready to elevate him into the top-three NBA MVP candidates because this is a season-long award, but his performance down the stretch is the best we’ve ever seen from him during the regular season.
Related: LeBron James Offers High Praise of Luka Doncic
5. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
With Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham likely to miss the rest of the regular season due to a collapsed lung, he’ll fall under the 65-game threshold for NBA MVP consideration. That vaults Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown into the fifth spot. Let’s take you back to the preseason: many projections had Boston finishing anywhere from 38-42 wins, with some wondering if the team would reset this season. Elevated into the role of the Celtics’ superstar, Brown has delivered a career year. Boston’s going to finish with 50-plus wins and likely be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. He’s scored 30-plus points in 19 games this season with six 40-burgers. If you don’t have Brown as a top-five finalist for MVP, assuming Cunningham is ineligible, we have to assume you have Joe Mazzulla as the NBA Coach of the Year. It’s either or both, not neither.
