Four candidates, one award, very little breathing room

The NBA’s Most Valuable Player award is more competitive than it has been in years. With only a few weeks left in the 2025/26 season, four players still have a realistic shot at taking home the trophy. That is the polite version of saying the race is wide open and the argument is already becoming a small industry.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains the favorite

Of the four, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander still has the clearest path. He arrived at the final stretch on the back of a 47-point performance in a win over the Detroit Pistons this past Tuesday, another reminder that he is making life difficult for anyone trying to knock him off the top.

He also has a notable historical marker in his favor. Less than a month ago, he passed Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 126 consecutive games scoring at least 20 points, making him the player with the longest such streak in NBA history. That kind of thing tends to help in award races.

So far this season, the Oklahoma City star is averaging 31.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Victor Wembanyama rises to the top of the official ranking

Even so, Gilgeous-Alexander is not currently first in the league’s official MVP ranking. Since last Thursday, Víctor Wembanyama has been the player listed at the top on the NBA’s website.

The San Antonio Spurs center is averaging 24.7 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.1 blocks and 3 assists per game, and his recent outings have done plenty to explain the move.

On Monday, Wembanyama became the fastest player to record a double-double, doing it in 8:32. He finished that game with 41 points and 16 rebounds in a victory over the Chicago Bulls. Then, early this morning, he matched his career high in scoring and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Spurs extended their winning streak to 10 straight games.

Nikola Jokic is still doing Nikola Jokic things

In third place is Nikola Jokic, a three-time MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024. The Denver Nuggets center continues to do what he always does, which is make elite basketball look mildly inconvenient for everyone else.

Jokic remains behind Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama in the race, but he is having a better season than the one in which he last won the award. He is currently listed at 27.7 points, 13 rebounds and 18.8 assists per game, compared with 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists in his previous MVP campaign. That tells you just how tight the competition is.

After recording his 196th triple-double, the Serbian star is on pace to keep breaking ground and could become the first player ever to lead the NBA in rebounds per game and assists per game at the same time.

Luka Doncic leads the scoring, but the criticism has followed

Rounding out the top four is Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers. The former Real Madrid academy product leads the league in scoring with 33.8 points per game, and he has added 7.8 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 1.6 steals per night.

The defense is where the debate gets louder. Even though Doncic is inside the top 10 in steals, some former players and award voters have been openly critical of his defense, arguing that there are players ahead of him because he, in their words, “only plays half court.”

Some have gone further and questioned why he is in the conversation at all. That has not stopped him from putting together a March to remember, with 600 points, but apparently not every impressive stretch is enough to satisfy the people who like to make the voting harder than it needs to be.

He will have two head-to-head matchups this week against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder, games that matter both for the standings and for an MVP race that may well be decided by exactly these kinds of direct meetings.

The teams are surging too

One reason the MVP debate is so crowded is that the four candidates are all backed by elite team success. Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets have all put together an almost flawless March.

They also occupy the top four spots in the Western Conference, in that order.

  • The Thunder, the defending champions, have lost only two of their last 20 games.
  • The Spurs have done the same, but over their last 28 games.
  • The Lakers have won everything in the last month except their games in Detroit against the Pistons and in Denver against the Nuggets.
  • Denver, meanwhile, is riding a seven-game winning streak.

In other words, the MVP race is not being decided by one player doing everything alone. It is being shaped by four stars who are all playing at a level that would normally be enough to settle matters quickly, except this season has decided to make a case for suspense instead.