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

[Manimal]

Damn Wemby just fell like 5 spots in the MVP race. It's crazy how serious this is getting 6 games into the season!

[ball_takes23]

its boring but it gonna be SGA again, his team is guaranteed to win 60+ games and his off nights are still like 25/5/6.

[mediocrityrules]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Wemby just put in the worst game of the year amongst the contenders.

If contenders like SGA or Giannis have a bad game, they're still putting up 26/8/6 type numbers. Giannis hasn't scored less than ten points in a game since December 2018.

[Patches Perry]

OKC is missing Chet and JDub and Shai is still sitting out 4th quarters lol

To be fair it was the Wizards and Pelicans, combined 1 win between both.

[Patches Perry]

Sga lost his side kick and the team just keeps rolling - mvp vibes

A testament to the real MVP, OKC front office. It's not Shau hate, I truly believe they have been the very best during last seasons.

On other hand, SGA is a great great piece to the system. Luka or Jokic, they are the system. I don't imply this being better or worse.

This distinction always seemed arbitrary and one dimensional to me, and depending on how you view the player the framing will have a positive or negative connotation. I remember when Tim Duncan used to be called a system player in debates back in the early 2000s (showing my age). Compared to Steve Nash who was given the "they are the system" designation.

Some guys are the system in more subtle ways than others.

[KGtabake]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Was waiting for this.
Giannis on his off game had 28/11/8.
Tell us about Wemby after tonight's game now.
9 points, 9 rebounds, 6 turnovers, 5/15 shooting.
Where's the defensive impact now?
The Suns scored 130 points.
That doesn't happen against Giannis
We're talking about the Suns here.
130 points? For shame
So, no i guess after this performance, wemby should pack and leave this race and never come back since i see you're very critical on bad performances
Giannis is leading the league in PER, in VORP, in Plus Minus, in Win Shares.
Show us a game in which Giannis will finish with a performance like Wemby's tonight.

[MMyhre]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Was waiting for this.
Giannis on his off game had 28/11/8.
Tell us about Wemby after tonight's game now.
9 points, 9 rebounds, 6 turnovers, 5/15 shooting.
Where's the defensive impact now?
The Suns scored 130 points.
That doesn't happen against Giannis
We're talking about the Suns here.
130 points? For shame
So, no i guess after this performance, wemby should pack and leave this race and never come back since i see you're very critical on bad performances
Giannis is leading the league in PER, in VORP, in Plus Minus, in Win Shares.
Show us a game in which Giannis will finish with a performance like Wemby's tonight.

Wemby was still much better defensively before this game.

Now Shai is #1, where he belongs

[xb3at band1tx]

Read on Twitter

[CobraCommander]

Read on Twitter

lol - he still got 22 shots up- so did AR

I think the lakers legit - whole roster is solid - they have their offense covered and if they play solid defense they golden

[CobraCommander]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Was waiting for this.
Giannis on his off game had 28/11/8.
Tell us about Wemby after tonight's game now.
9 points, 9 rebounds, 6 turnovers, 5/15 shooting.
Where's the defensive impact now?
The Suns scored 130 points.
That doesn't happen against Giannis
We're talking about the Suns here.
130 points? For shame
So, no i guess after this performance, wemby should pack and leave this race and never come back since i see you're very critical on bad performances
Giannis is leading the league in PER, in VORP, in Plus Minus, in Win Shares.
Show us a game in which Giannis will finish with a performance like Wemby's tonight.

Wemby was still much better defensively before this game.

Now Shai is #1, where he belongs

Sga, wemby, Giannis, Luka & Jokic in that order

[KGtabake]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Was waiting for this.
Giannis on his off game had 28/11/8.
Tell us about Wemby after tonight's game now.
9 points, 9 rebounds, 6 turnovers, 5/15 shooting.
Where's the defensive impact now?
The Suns scored 130 points.
That doesn't happen against Giannis
We're talking about the Suns here.
130 points? For shame
So, no i guess after this performance, wemby should pack and leave this race and never come back since i see you're very critical on bad performances
Giannis is leading the league in PER, in VORP, in Plus Minus, in Win Shares.
Show us a game in which Giannis will finish with a performance like Wemby's tonight.

Wemby was still much better defensively before this game.

Now Shai is #1, where he belongs

Hey, I'm just watching the stats and the advanced stats and all this crap
It's ok if you don't want to take them into account
I don't. I know what I'm witnessing with Giannis since 2018.

[MMyhre]

My rankings as of now :
1 Wemby
2 Shai
3 Luka
4 Giannis
5 Jokic

One has to mention that the Kings scored 101 points against OKC, yet got 135 against the Bucks with basically the same amount of threes made. Giannis just doesn't have that defensive capacity and impact anymore, so even if the box score stats look good, his defensive impact is far below Wemby. The Kings shot 59.3 % from two and got 40 free throws, that just doesn't happen against Wemby.

That number was 46.4 % on twos against OKC, with just 21 free throw attempts for comparison to an elite defense.

Giannis also literally threw the game by throwing the ball off the rim on a drive without control in the possession where they could tie it.
It's a weird game from Giannis, only 26 points against the Kings and no elite defense, so where is your energy going here? Either you need to be high volume offense like Luka, or high volume defense like Wemby, he just got stuck somewhere in between in this game against an objectively bad team.

Still not a bad game overall, good playmaking and efficiency, but in this MVP race you can't lose too many games to teams like the Kings, Suns, Jazz, Nets or Wizards with a good but not great performance to stay in it.

Wemby just put in the worst game of the year amongst the contenders.

If contenders like SGA or Giannis have a bad game, they're still putting up 26/8/6 type numbers. Giannis hasn't scored less than ten points in a game since December 2018.

Yes, that post was before that. I had seen signs of inconsistency in Wembys scoring before that, with his jump shooting being poor, but I didn't expect nine points against the Suns.

The league is better than ever, any team can get hot and beat top teams, but this MVP race crew might be too good offensively for Wemby to hang with the more consistent Shai, Luka & Giannis. It's just one game though, maybe he had an injury etc, so we'll see how he responds.

Defense still wins championships and games, so if he leads the Spurs to 50-55 wins with not elite, but very good offense, he will be in contention regardless.

[Andri]

Sga lost his side kick and the team just keeps rolling - mvp vibes

A testament to the real MVP, OKC front office. It's not Shau hate, I truly believe they have been the very best during last seasons.

On other hand, SGA is a great great piece to the system. Luka or Jokic, they are the system. I don't imply this being better or worse.

This distinction always seemed arbitrary and one dimensional to me, and depending on how you view the player the framing will have a positive or negative connotation. I remember when Tim Duncan used to be called a system player in debates back in the early 2000s (showing my age). Compared to Steve Nash who was given the "they are the system" designation.

Some guys are the system in more subtle ways than others.

I can agree on that. OKC style is based on defense first, and then mostly SGA doing his thing, surrounded with complementary pieces to his game, and a second option in Jalen Williams to give Shai a rest.

Nevertheless, OKC FO IMO still is the key in the success, not only because of the assests, the flexibilyt, but also how soundly they have built the roster.

Regarding the comparison with Luka and Jokic, again, I think probably Shai's rol is less unique that the former two within their team and to dictate the success of it. Recognizing the Shai's uber talent indeed.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Shai has 79 consecutive games scoring 20 or more. Only Wilt has more in NBA history. I’m ready to call him the best scorer in the league. No one else is as consistent both in play level and availability.

And he’s a high-level defender, which most of the other scorers aren’t close to. Going to be tough to unseat the MVP.

[Bornstellar]

Vic had a really rough game last night but in the grand scheme of things, if he plays like he has over an entire season no one is going to say "but he had a bad game in November!"

That being said, since it's so early in the season that 1 game dropped him back from the lead and right now it's SGA then Giannis

[sodmoraes]

Wemby is improved, but i think people overrated his offensive game, since he was scoring a lot in the first couple of games of the season.

[Ron Swanson]

Yes, I'm stunned that Wemby wasn't gonna average a 40+ PER for an entire season. Gonna go out on a limb and predict that OKC won't go 82-0 this season either. Scorching hot takes, I know...

[Infinite Llamas]

The Wembanyama game from last night showcases why it’s silly to really be having these conversations so soon

In one game, his WS/48 went from .406 to .289. His BPM dropped from 13.1 to 8.0.

[slick_watts]

shai's probably going to produce a season similar to last year. luka, giannis, jokic are all capable of matching or exceeding that, so it's too early to say. who knows where wemby settles. my guess is that shai will not repeat and one of the other three will win it.

[canada_dry]

shai's probably going to produce a season similar to last year. luka, giannis, jokic are all capable of matching or exceeding that, so it's too early to say. who knows where wemby settles. my guess is that shai will not repeat and one of the other three will win it.

Are they matching his 70 ish wins despite injuries and #1 seed 10+ wins ahead of #2?

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