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

[f4p]

Please stop with the SGA is carrying the Thunder narrative. This is not a carry job. This is an MVP on an extremely talented and well put together team.

Multiple All-D caliber players, multiple role players that can shoot, pass and defend. Their 4th-5th best player just had a 33/19 game.

It's early but right now OKC would have the best relative defensive rating in history. They are like 6 points ahead of the 2nd best defense. Shai is amazing but also in a perfect place to just score and score and get some assists without being an amazing creator and then the rest of the team dominates everything else.

[Castle Black]

Wemby's likely not going to win MVP this season, but the Spurs would legitimately be 0-12 without him right now. Maaaybe 1-11. He's that valuable to our team, especially defensively. The fact that we go from the #2-ranked defense in the NBA with him on the floor to the 27th-ranked defense when he sits is ridiculous. Spurs desperately need more 3&D guys around him.

[f4p]

...

[f4p]

SGA is on track to have the second highest PER of all time (to Jokic in 21-22) which is crazy until you realize Giannis has a higher PER this season and would break the record. Which is even crazier until you consider Jokic is beating Giannis by several points, would set the new record at 39, and also has a TS of 78%.

Shaping up to be a heck of a season.

Shaping up to be one of the greatest seasons ever from the top 5 players in a season.

I do think the incredibly easy scoring of the game now, especially the massive leap in scoring this season from what was already ridiculously easy scoring, is probably helping the top 5 look even crazier. Thing like PER and BPM have already trended up significantly the last decade and now I think it's turbocharged. Like now that defense basically doesn't exist there's no real way to keep giannis from a 35/15 game and jokic is taking his ridiculous touch and now getting such good looks that it seems impossible for him to miss. Essentially it's just too easy to put up numbers so the guys with the ball all the time are looking even better than normal.

Having said that, jokic is at 39 PER, 0.467 WS48 and 20.8 BPM, all so record shattering that the league environment hardly matters. At this point I would say there's basically no way he doesn't get the record in all 3. There's no believable way to think he can drop off enough the rest of the season to.bring those numbers down below the existing records.

[f4p]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=XO0PgrZjS-uU8MmGKL8grQ

Jokic is so good he’s got his own gold color!

jokic is like next level but we need to discuss why this stat should be call the STEPH CURRY STAT...like LEBRON...this is the Steph...he pretty much owns all the spots..

oh and cade's rTS% should disqualify him from consideration of being in the top 5... and Giannis with horrible FTs and SGA with suspect 3s got really good rTS%

Yeah but look at the games that make up that stat for Steph. There's a lot of overlap.

For example rows 2, 3 are using the same games for the '5 game stretch'.

In fact, if we applied the same logic to Jokic, he'd have rows #1 and #2 on this chart, just by adding another row for 'Span Started - 2025-11-03 --> 'Span Ended - 2025-11-10'.

Apparently you need to bet on Damian Lillard from January 23 to February 1 each year.

[bonita_the_frog]

Giannis has a much weaker supporting cast than Jokic and Shai, so isn't that a factor in MVP?
If the Bucks finish Top 2 in East, does Giannis win MVP?
OR will they still give MVP to Jokic/Shai because the West is stronger?
There questions sound too complicated for someone like Stephan A Smith to answer, so its hard to trust the voters...

[Crives]

Iggy is being harsh, but there’s some truth to what he’s saying.

Booker is a guy who go can score a bunch of points on ok efficiency if given the opportunity, but he doesn’t bring ANYTHING to the table if you’re not featuring him on offense. Very one dimensional player.

On a team that can already score, like the Thunder, what exactly does he for them?

Don't agree with this at all, Book was very efficient and productive in his supplementary role for team USA. He proved he doesn't need to be featured on offense to be effective. He'd be a great fit alongside SGA/JDub, so many easy looks.. and the Thunder obviously have the personnel to hide him on defense. Y'all act like he's Cam Thomas or something.

First off, can we quit pretending all these declining guards like Ja, Trae, and Booker are the same players they were 2 years ago?

And secondly, who cares if Booker managed to play defense like he gave a **** for 132 total minutes in the freaking Olympics. That doesn’t mean he’s likely to replicate that in the NBA after 10 full seasons of being **** defensively in the league. We have a larger sample of Dennis Schroeder being the #1 option on the world champions than we do of Booker being able to play passable defense.

I just can’t see any role Booker could play on the Thunder where he wouldn’t make them worse. It was harsh to compare him to Beal who completely wrecked the Clippers when he was on the floor, but I think even in the best case for Booker he still makes OKC at least slightly worse if he’s on their roster.

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[greekman]

Giannis has a much weaker supporting cast than Jokic and Shai, so isn't that a factor in MVP?
If the Bucks finish Top 2 in East, does Giannis win MVP?
OR will they still give MVP to Jokic/Shai because the West is stronger?
There questions sound too complicated for someone like Stephan A Smith to answer, so its hard to trust the voters...

the bucks aren't finishing top 2

[Infinite Llamas]

Giannis has a much weaker supporting cast than Jokic and Shai, so isn't that a factor in MVP?
If the Bucks finish Top 2 in East, does Giannis win MVP?
OR will they still give MVP to Jokic/Shai because the West is stronger?
There questions sound too complicated for someone like Stephan A Smith to answer, so its hard to trust the voters...

If the Bucks somehow finish top 2 I guarantee you voters will give him a very serious look.

[Black star]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

[Whopper_Sr]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

SGA is carrying their offense. But the rest of the guys are carrying him on defense.

[GiannisAnte34]

Giannis has a much weaker supporting cast than Jokic and Shai, so isn't that a factor in MVP?
If the Bucks finish Top 2 in East, does Giannis win MVP?
OR will they still give MVP to Jokic/Shai because the West is stronger?
There questions sound too complicated for someone like Stephan A Smith to answer, so its hard to trust the voters...

If the Bucks somehow finish top 2 I guarantee you voters will give him a very serious look.

I don’t trust that people will admit they clowned the Bucks roster before the season. They’ll backpedal and act like what Giannis is doing isn’t that great

And I’ve heard basically every team “could be” higher in the standings than the Bucks. That includes the Knicks, Cavs, Magic, Hawks, 76ers, Pistons, Raptors, Heat, and Bulls to varying degrees

[Exp0sed]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

No one is dismissing him..it's just that Jokic is breaking records and shooting 78% from two point range, with a variety of shots and distances, while leading the league in Rebs AND Assists and pretty much shattering every advanced metric there is

Nuggets have had an easy schedule and Jokic has been otherworldly

When he'll face better competition and come back down to earth a bit and rack up some losses,SGA will be right back it in and even on top because of all the reasons you mentioned

Nuggets play a very tough Wolves team that's also been their kryptonite.Jokic is banged up so if he plays, that's still likely a loss on the Wolves home floor and he'll miss more than the 8 shots he missed in his two last games combined


SGA is far from dismissed, just a little behind

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[Sharkboy242]

Why can't we just lock this thread and just acknowledge that Jokic is the MVP?

[Black star]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

No one is dismissing him..it's just that Jokic is breaking records and shooting 78% from two point range, with a variety of shots and distances, while leading the league in Rebs AND Assists and pretty much shattering every advanced metric there is

Nuggets have had an easy schedule and Jokic has been otherworldly

When he'll face better competition and come back down to earth a bit and rack up some losses,SGA will be right back it in and even on top because of all the reasons you mentioned

Nuggets play a very tough Wolves team that's also been their kryptonite.Jokic is banged up so if he plays, that's still likely a loss on the Wolves home floor and he'll miss more than the 8 shots he missed in his two last games combined


SGA is far from dismissed, just a little behind

Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

I mean SGA is a distant 5th in the poll currently. My point was made for people who might think it's business as usual with the Thunder being this good when in fact he's papering over holes in a way that MVP candidates usually get a lot of praise for doing.

Jokic has definitely been even more incredible individually and the Nuggets are the 2nd best team in the league so far. He has a great case as well.

[Patches Perry]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

Textbook "voter fatigue"

I don't expect him to win because he is mostly just duplicating what he did last season and winning a B2B MVP generally requires bettering your previous season, and there are some seriously incredible MVP candidates this season.

With that said, if OKC wins 70+ with him playing like prime MJ and leading through lots of injuries of their top guys, it's going to be tough to not give it to him. Only Jordan and Curry have done that, and both won their MVP awards in a landslide in those seasons.

[jg77]

Thunder will get to 74 wins and SGA goes back to back.

[zero rings]

I find it interesting how dismissive most people seem to be about SGA leading the Thunder to an incredible start this year.

He's without his 2nd best player. On top of that Hartenstein is the only other starter from last year to not have missed significant time so far. They are playing a second year 2nd round pick almost 30 minutes a night. They are a top 5 offense and he doesn't even have a clear 2nd option averaging 20 ppg like every other team in the top 5.

Somehow despite all that they have still clearly been the best team in the NBA thus far. His ability to be the foundation for everything they do is so underrated in forums like this because there is no easy number you can point at to describe it

No one is dismissing him..it's just that Jokic is breaking records and shooting 78% from two point range, with a variety of shots and distances, while leading the league in Rebs AND Assists and pretty much shattering every advanced metric there is

Nuggets have had an easy schedule and Jokic has been otherworldly

When he'll face better competition and come back down to earth a bit and rack up some losses,SGA will be right back it in and even on top because of all the reasons you mentioned

Nuggets play a very tough Wolves team that's also been their kryptonite.Jokic is banged up so if he plays, that's still likely a loss on the Wolves home floor and he'll miss more than the 8 shots he missed in his two last games combined


SGA is far from dismissed, just a little behind

Sent from my SM-A055F using RealGM mobile app

I mean SGA is a distant 5th in the poll currently. My point was made for people who might think it's business as usual with the Thunder being this good when in fact he's papering over holes in a way that MVP candidates usually get a lot of praise for doing.

Jokic has definitely been even more incredible individually and the Nuggets are the 2nd best team in the league so far. He has a great case as well.

Nobody is dismissing SGA in the real world. I'm pretty sure he is still the betting favorite, even with Jokic doing what he's doing.

He just doesn't have that many stans on realgm

[ball_takes23]

SGA is on track to have the second highest PER of all time (to Jokic in 21-22) which is crazy until you realize Giannis has a higher PER this season and would break the record. Which is even crazier until you consider Jokic is beating Giannis by several points, would set the new record at 39, and also has a TS of 78%.

Shaping up to be a heck of a season.

Shaping up to be one of the greatest seasons ever from the top 5 players in a season.

I do think the incredibly easy scoring of the game now, especially the massive leap in scoring this season from what was already ridiculously easy scoring, is probably helping the top 5 look even crazier. Thing like PER and BPM have already trended up significantly the last decade and now I think it's turbocharged. Like now that defense basically doesn't exist there's no real way to keep giannis from a 35/15 game and jokic is taking his ridiculous touch and now getting such good looks that it seems impossible for him to miss. Essentially it's just too easy to put up numbers so the guys with the ball all the time are looking even better than normal.

Having said that, jokic is at 39 PER, 0.467 WS48 and 20.8 BPM, all so record shattering that the league environment hardly matters. At this point I would say there's basically no way he doesn't get the record in all 3. There's no believable way to think he can drop off enough the rest of the season to.bring those numbers down below the existing records.

Jokic probably comes down 5 points just from this latest minnesota game. It only takes a couple of average games to bring an 80% TS down to 70%. Last season Jokic had a much wider gap when facing top 10 defenses vs bottom 10 defenses than Shai did, I would expect over a larger sample that Joker/Shai advanced stats will start to converge.

[Ambrose]

Giannis has a much weaker supporting cast than Jokic and Shai, so isn't that a factor in MVP?
If the Bucks finish Top 2 in East, does Giannis win MVP?
OR will they still give MVP to Jokic/Shai because the West is stronger?
There questions sound too complicated for someone like Stephan A Smith to answer, so its hard to trust the voters...

The Bucks won't finish top 2. They aren't good. Even before they got destroyed tonight they were 16th in Net rating. If they did get the 2, he'd get votes.