NBA MVP 2026

Shai, but Wemby's going to win a lot of MVPs over the next few years.

i think it's pretty definitely shai

the argument between jokic & wemby is more interesting -- jokic has played about 300 more minutes which is something like 7 more games, however most of the advanced stats have wemby as being better in those minutes. i think it's a bit of a philosophical question over the worth of more minutes played. i think i would lean towards giving to jokic bcuz of the minutes played, tho given the gap in the standings between the two teams i think wemby is a defensible choice

a pretty fascinating longterm question is whether luka is ever actually able to win a MVP ... i think i'd ultimately bet on there being a season in the next 5 years where it all lines up for him but he's hit a hard ceiling so far in his career w/ the shai/jokic/giannis combo and it feels like the first two aren't going anywhere anytime soon. then you have wemby who is likely going pass him this year and be a perpetual top 3 MVP candidate. i think the best you could hope for is voter fatigue surrounding shai, jokic getting more injured over time or his play falling off, i guess wemby is always liable to get hurt and miss a lot of games. maybe the lane really opens for luka in that scenario but i also think you could look at his prime and say that he isn't actually the favorite to win MVP in any of those years which would be kinda wild given what people were (rightfully) predicting 2-3 years ago

shai will win, luka doesnt GET any respect because he doesnt SHOW any respect, nuff said

very interested to what teams throw at wemby in the playoffs this year, usually some of the stuff thrown at young players works, obvs not relevant to this years mvp but relevant long term to how a player is perceived is does his stuff work vs the best team in the highest leverage situations, luka is perceived as unserious because someone made a lowlight package of the celtics strolling by him over and over in the finals and also because his face looks like its crying at all times

Luka's game in the context of the Steph Curry Era of the NBA is fugly as hell, but he could overcome that if it were the only count against him. After all, Karl Malone did it twice. lag∞n otm about how he's seen within the league as a teammate and a personality. He's an egregious whiner and that's going to be the biggest obstacle to his ever winning MVP.

I think Shai will win again. He's worthy of it and Jokic has a fistful of them already.

I think Jokic doesn't care if he wins or not. It doesn't appear anywhere on his priority list. Wemby could could be the surprise winner. Everyone knows Wemby will be a perennial contender and multiple winner, but his game is still in an early formative stage and I think they will probably make him wait his turn.

voted jokic cos i respect the game of basketball.

jordan’s post is basically where I’m at. shai has been the most consistently great all year. jokic looked like he was trending towards #4 by christmas but the injury really hurt him, both in terms of minutes he’s missed and also his level of play, he’s basically been down across the board since he’s been back, even though he’s still been good. wemby just doesn’t play enough minutes to meaningfully challenge shai and luka is just not as good

shai gonna win for sure

gotta vote for sga but not thrilled about it

have they ever dipped from #1 in the west all year? (excluding like maybe really early in the season when teams have only played like 5 games)

the fact that he's prob gonna have scored 20+ in every single game is pretty cool

gotta vote for sga but not thrilled about it

have they ever dipped from #1 in the west all year? (excluding like maybe really early in the season when teams have only played like 5 games)

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, April 1, 2026 3:04 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

pretty sure not, they started like 20-1 or something right? they had a little slide where they went “only” 7-5 over a 12 game stretch or whatever it was but I think it’s basically been wire to wire

pistons have the best record in the nba

― lag∞n, Saturday, February 21, 2026 6:03 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

matt was talking about the west but yeah the pistons were neck and neck for a while

the mvp award is for the whole league

the OKC Thunder have the best record in the league at 60 wins while the Pistons have 5 fewer wins at 55.

-- Aimless, Wednesday, April 1, 2026

latest straw poll:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48380547/nba-mvp-award-straw-poll-sga-wemby-luka-jokic-lead-final-2025-26-update

come on

According to ESPN's third and final NBA MVP straw poll of 2025-26, Wemby's late-season push will fall just short.

shai 88 first place votes

wemby 8

razor thin lol

I’m honestly fine with wemby at 2 now. he’s played significantly better than jokic for several weeks now. still think that’s mostly because jokic just hasn’t been right since the injury but you gotta go out and do it

jaylen dominating the 5th place votes prob means hes got 1st team all nba locked up

based on the previous straw poll cade wouldve gotten it if he hadnt been injured

there’s an easy change to make to the 65 game rule thing where you can just say you can’t vote a guy #1. could also extend that to all-nba and say you can’t vote them first team. then we could avoid having some
of the silly third team members we’re probably heading for

imho they should just let the voters vote for whoever they want and factor in the missed games themselves, but of course this is about trying to get players to play as many games as possible which im not sure its working

i actually think its working for the one guy they created the rule for in the first place... kawhi.

embiid was at least as responsible for it iirc

true

The Leverage leaders in offense and defense have their squads rolling! 

Explore a new way to quantify the impact of Jokić, Wemby and other top stars with NBA Inside The Game powered by @awscloud before the Spurs host the Nuggets tomorrow at 8:30pm/et on ESPN! 

Learn more:… pic.twitter.com/SeBL8GTjaf

— NBA (@NBA) April 11, 2026

cam spencer huh

idk what that stat is tbh and it’s interesting that the defensive numbers are higher than the offensive ones, which is the opposite of the usual impact stats

the cade and luka exceptions are so dumb lol. either have the rule or don’t

btw bise feel free to add (and other awards) to this thread title that was the intention

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

rigged

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/48535860/wembanyama-gilgeous-alexander-jokic-named-mvp-finalists

wemby first unanimous dpoy

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HGYbiYAaEAEjA57?format=jpg&name=large

could be like this for a decade straight

yup

yeah it’s hard to see him ever losing if he meets the games played threshold

pretty close, i thought flagg was clearly better but there was a media narrative re kon, prob wouldve worked too if flagg didnt have those consecutive 40+ pt games down the stretch

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kinda crazy the top 4 rookies were the top 4 picks. has this ever happened?

idk that is crazy tho

man. the play-in screwed kon so bad

maybe kon shouldve considered playing basketball better

Kon hit a wall for the last couple weeks of the season, wasn’t just the play-in, but it is a cluster for sure that the ballots didn’t go out till after that stinker

congrats to shai and 8

shai gilgeous-alexander 8

‪Keerthika Uthayakumar‬ keerthikau.bsky.social‬

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a 66.5 TS% this season, the 2nd-highest in a 30 PPG season in NBA history & the highest since Steph Curry in 2015-16.

hes rly good and his legacy will probably be underrated by casuals bc of the free throws and the canadian okcness of him

Good job shai. Seems like the right pick

shai 83 first place votes
jokic 10
wemby 5
luka 0
cade 2

ILH settled all this more than a month ago. The league is only now catching up with us.

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25-26 the year the world fell out of love with evan mobley

All those people who bet big money on Shai making First Team All-NBA Defense are enormously stupid for doing that disappointed.

guess Caruso didn't play enough games

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duren eligible for the supermax

who voted Wemby second team

some dickhead who's a position purist

mazzulla coach of the year

"dumb award" --joe mazzulla

celtics add more hardware

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worked his way up

He has been with the Celtics since 1997, first working as a ball boy.