Who do you think wins MVP this season? (2025-26 NBA MVP Discussion Thread)

[CobraCommander]

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Highlights are going to be Wemby's biggest advantage over the other contenders. Those first four blocks are breathtaking.

The vicious block and the rim, push it off the dribble then pass to the streaking guard who then drops it off to wemby for a 3 is insane work… it’s like if Hakeem was also a small Guard

[MMyhre]

Giannis outplayed by Cooper Flagg 1v1 in the clutch, saved by a slip and a big Kuzma game.

When Wemby has his jump shot going he is a problem, it was against one of the softest big men teams in the Bulls, but nice clutch stuff.

Luka took care of the weakened Hornets, but the three ball is still not falling well.

[MMyhre]

Only injuries will stop Wemby winning in a landslide tbh

Lol. Where were you when he was struggling? One game and he is the unanimous MVP again. Alright mate

[MMyhre]

Only injuries will stop Wemby winning in a landslide tbh

Wemby's great games are greater than any other player in the leagues great games, but his bad games are also much, much worse than Jokic and SGAs bad games. he's proving that he will annihilate single coverage from other bigs like the Bulls were giving him tonight. The smart coaches like JJ are going to adjust to him

You mean offensively right?

Because his game changing defense doesn't drop off whenever he isn't scoring nearly 40 pieces. So not really. Otherwise the Spurs, who are an infinitely much worse team outside of Wemby when compared to OKC and Denver, wouldn't be 8-2. I'll take Wemby's bad games over anyone else's bad games in the league.

Lol, this is just a blatant lie to promote your agenda. Castle has been great, Barnes and Champagnie won them a game, Fox has provided a clear spark, Kornet has been very positive when he has played etc.

Castle in his last 7 games in 34.4 min:
19.1 pts on 57.9 ts %, 5.4 reb, 8.9 ast/3.3 to, 2.4 stl, 0.4 blk +7.7.

Wemby last 7 in 34.7 min:
22.4 pts on 59.1 ts %, 12.6 reb, 3.9 ast/4.3 to, 3 blk, 1 stl, +8.

[_NoMas]

Jokic is the only one of the top 5 MVP candidates whose teams offensive and defensive rating is better with him on the court.

That said, it’s a toss up between shai and joker. Luka is on his way though

[Exp0sed]

I agree

Cade is awesome but he's not an MVP caliber player while Duren has made the jump to legit all star

Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

Nope, you're both wrong. Lets do a little bit of a better research for once, shall we?
Cade started the season slow, that's why the overall numbers for this season may not look much better than last year.
However, Cade is now averaging over his last 6 games, of which the Pistons has won all 6, these numbers:
29.2 pts/60.9 ts %, 11.2 ast/2.7 to, 4.2 reb, 1.5 stl, 0.7 blk with positive defense on nbarapm.com, leads all point guards in rim assists and the offense drops by -10.8 points per 100 possessions when he sits.

Lets do some better research if we want to make strong claims now. This is just soft stuff in the paint, easy block for me.
Duren is great and clearly improved, but saying Cade is the same as last year is just such a poor statement to make.

Was going to post something along the lines of this but you beat me to the punch.

A lot of posters don't actually watch the players they comment on.

Duren has been amazing and a big part of why we're off to such a great start. And he's getting plenty of love for it, I see his highlights all over social media and media around the league are giving him his flowers.

i'll admit I haven't watched alot of Pistons ball this season. Cunningham has already "broke out" last season, he elevated his game to ALL-NBA level - last season, here are his stats from last season:

26.1\6.1\9.1 on 35\47\85, playing 35 mpg with 4.4 To's

this season so far, he's posting 27.5\5.5\10 on 43\29\80 splits playing 37 mpg and 3.6 To's

so he's playing a bit more, taking more shots (and scoring less effficiently), upped his Assists slightly and cut down his To's significantly and getting to the line a couple of extra times a game (which is sweet)

so it's safe to say, like for any young player that he's taken another step forward. he def has a case for a top 10 spot in MVP voting thus far (especially seeing as the Pistons are winning games) but let's not get carried away, he's still pretty far from that top tier

he's proven himself to be a legit franchise player and we're all looking forward for him to have a long and successfull career, but that doesn't mean he's MVP caliber, not yet anyway

[prime1time]

Wemby's great games are greater than any other player in the leagues great games, but his bad games are also much, much worse than Jokic and SGAs bad games. he's proving that he will annihilate single coverage from other bigs like the Bulls were giving him tonight. The smart coaches like JJ are going to adjust to him

You mean offensively right?

Because his game changing defense doesn't drop off whenever he isn't scoring nearly 40 pieces. So not really. Otherwise the Spurs, who are an infinitely much worse team outside of Wemby when compared to OKC and Denver, wouldn't be 8-2. I'll take Wemby's bad games over anyone else's bad games in the league.

Lol, this is just a blatant lie to promote your agenda. Castle has been great, Barnes and Champagnie won them a game, Fox has provided a clear spark, Kornet has been very positive when he has played etc.

Castle in his last 7 games in 34.4 min:
19.1 pts on 57.9 ts %, 5.4 reb, 8.9 ast/3.3 to, 2.4 stl, 0.4 blk +7.7.

Wemby last 7 in 34.7 min:
22.4 pts on 59.1 ts %, 12.6 reb, 3.9 ast/4.3 to, 3 blk, 1 stl, +8.

Wemby's "bad" numbers are mvp numbers when you account for the fact that he's the most impactful defender in the NBA by far. This needs to be put in perspective. Wemby's "bad" games are MVP level. When he actually plays well, the conversation ends. Spurs are 8 and 2. Fox just came back and Harper is now injured. If they continue to win there's really no arguing against Wemby. He anchors the Spurs defense in a way that no other potential MVP candidate does. He completely changes how opposing teams play offense. Chicago had a great 3-point shooting night and still lost. 16/38 from 3. If you don't make 3's against this Spurs team you have no chance.

[hagredionis]

Luka is clearly in the lead with 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg, the only question is whois in second.

[prime1time]

These offense only MVP candidates will remain in the convo because they put up gaudy stats. But come playoff time, we'll see how things shake out. A team is going to have beat Wemby 4 times out of 7. Spurs guards are going to be able to play physical and the court is going to shrink. Wemby's defensive impact will be magnified.

[Andri]

These offense only MVP candidates will remain in the convo because they put up gaudy stats. But come playoff time, we'll see how things shake out. A team is going to have beat Wemby 4 times out of 7. Spurs guards are going to be able to play physical and the court is going to shrink. Wemby's defensive impact will be magnified.

Or not, the thrill comes from being witnesses

[Andri]

Luka is clearly in the lead with 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg, the only question is whois in second.

If you take the stats he could win no doubt. Besides, he will need to play enough, Lakers to finish top-4 I guess, and also build a narrative around why he should win it.

IMO, Jokic would only need the Nuggets finish close enough to OKC. And SGA, just roughly match Joker's and Luka's stats/impact.

[Optms]

Luka is clearly in the lead with 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg, the only question is whois in second.

I don't have him registered but give him another week and he's probably top 2 with Wemby.

[Infinite Llamas]

A shame that only 1 of the 4 meetings between the Spurs and Denver are on national broadcast games.

[hagredionis]

Luka is clearly in the lead with 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg, the only question is whois in second.

If you take the stats he could win no doubt. Besides, he will need to play enough, Lakers to finish top-4 I guess, and also build a narrative around why he should win it.

IMO, Jokic would only need the Nuggets finish close enough to OKC. And SGA, just roughly match Joker's and Luka's stats/impact.

Sure but SGA is not that close to matching Luka's stats:

Luka 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg / 1.7 spg
SGA 33.2 ppg / 5.2 rpg / 6.0 apg / 1.1 spg

[zero rings]

Luka is clearly in the lead with 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg, the only question is whois in second.

If you take the stats he could win no doubt. Besides, he will need to play enough, Lakers to finish top-4 I guess, and also build a narrative around why he should win it.

IMO, Jokic would only need the Nuggets finish close enough to OKC. And SGA, just roughly match Joker's and Luka's stats/impact.

Sure but SGA is not that close to matching Luka's stats:

Luka 37.1 ppg / 9.4 rpg / 9.1 apg / 1.7 spg
SGA 33.2 ppg / 5.2 rpg / 6.0 apg / 1.1 spg

Luka sure looks a lot better than SGA when you ignore everything SGA is better at lmao

[ball_takes23]

srs for the relevant teams:

Denver: 12.13
OKC: 8.88
SAS: 6.09
Lakers: 3.13
Mil: 1.36

This tells me that the lakers and bucks are simply not going to win enough games for Luka and Giannis to be competitive. We now have a 3 man race between Jokic, Wemby and SGA.

[Optms]

srs for the relevant teams:

Denver: 12.13
OKC: 8.88
SAS: 6.09
Lakers: 3.13
Mil: 1.36

This tells me that the lakers and bucks are simply not going to win enough games for Luka and Giannis to be competitive. We now have a 3 man race between Jokic, Wemby and SGA.

Lakers just beat the Spurs with Wemby and they weren't even at full health.

But somehow some stat tells you they can't keep this pace up? Luka has missed about 40% of the games, Reeves has missed time as well and Lebron hasn't even played yet. They are 8-3 despite all the injuries. Does SRS take that into account? I guess not. I can't say the same thing about the Bucks since they are at full health and lack the supporting cast around Giannis but they still are playing in the East so its feasible for them to approach 50 wins. What the Lakers are doing however is surprising no one but non Lakers fans. Most of us knew Luka would be coming out rolling. And additions like Ayton and Smart have been out of the park moves. Luka will insert himself into the debate by next week if not challenge for MVP lead. Some already have him top 3.

[ball_takes23]

srs for the relevant teams:

Denver: 12.13
OKC: 8.88
SAS: 6.09
Lakers: 3.13
Mil: 1.36

This tells me that the lakers and bucks are simply not going to win enough games for Luka and Giannis to be competitive. We now have a 3 man race between Jokic, Wemby and SGA.

Lakers just beat the Spurs with Wemby and they weren't even at full health.

But somehow some stat tells you they can't keep this pace up? Luka has missed about 40% of the games, Reeves has missed time as well and Lebron hasn't even played yet. They are 8-3 despite all the injuries. Does SRS take that into account? I guess not. I can't say the same thing about the Bucks since they are at full health and lack the supporting cast around Giannis but they still are playing in the East so its feasible for them to approach 50 wins. What the Lakers are doing however is surprising no one but non Lakers fans. Most of us knew Luka would be coming out rolling. And additions like Ayton and Smart have been out of the park moves. Luka will insert himself into the debate by next week if not challenge for MVP lead.

the Spurs weren't at full health either. The Spurs missing Kornet, Harper and Fox is much more impactful than the lakers missing lebron and reaves because the spurs injured players all have different skillsets than their main star whereas the lakers stars all have overlapping skillsets which is why they dont really look any better with Luka + Reaves than they do with just Luka.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Shai has better efficiency, has played 4 more games, has scored 33% more total points than Luka. And that’s just the side of the ball they are close on. Defensively, they aren’t close.

[zero rings]

srs for the relevant teams:

Denver: 12.13
OKC: 8.88
SAS: 6.09
Lakers: 3.13
Mil: 1.36

This tells me that the lakers and bucks are simply not going to win enough games for Luka and Giannis to be competitive. We now have a 3 man race between Jokic, Wemby and SGA.

Lakers just beat the Spurs with Wemby and they weren't even at full health.

But somehow some stat tells you they can't keep this pace up? Luka has missed about 40% of the games, Reeves has missed time as well and Lebron hasn't even played yet. They are 8-3 despite all the injuries. Does SRS take that into account? I guess not. I can't say the same thing about the Bucks since they are at full health and lack the supporting cast around Giannis but they still are playing in the East so its feasible for them to approach 50 wins. What the Lakers are doing however is surprising no one but non Lakers fans. Most of us knew Luka would be coming out rolling. And additions like Ayton and Smart have been out of the park moves. Luka will insert himself into the debate by next week if not challenge for MVP lead. Some already have him top 3.

SRS accounts for point differential and the Lakers' point diff is not great. They're winning a ton of close games, which usually evens out over time.

Luka has been great, but this doesn't look like some dominant team.