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

[Snake3]

Shai has OKC at a 120 ORTG putting them 4th in the league with his 2nd best offensive player probably being Ajay? Ya the team is deep and stacked with very good defensive pieces and but theyre also, good but not great offensively. Shai is carrying that offense just being ruthlessly efficient in the half court and never turning the ball over (a guard of his usage turning the ball over <2 times a game is hugely underrated), and he may join the exclusive 50-40-90 club.

It is to Jokic's credit that he's flirting with another MVP this season. Shai would be the runaway favourite against the majority best seasons of almost any other all time great

I believe it would be the highest ppg 50-40-90 club. And less than 2 TOs a game is wild. Unbelievable so far. Consistently getting 30 before the 4th too. It reminds me of Curry in 16 where he would hardly play the 4th.

It's crazy that he is having this good of a season. As ppl said, probably the best guard season since MJ.

And as you said, it's a testament to how good Jokic is that this is even a conversation. Such great performances all around.

[frica]

Shai has OKC at a 120 ORTG putting them 4th in the league with his 2nd best offensive player probably being Ajay? Ya the team is deep and stacked with very good defensive pieces and but theyre also, good but not great offensively. Shai is carrying that offense just being ruthlessly efficient in the half court and never turning the ball over (a guard of his usage turning the ball over <2 times a game is hugely underrated), and he may join the exclusive 50-40-90 club.

It is to Jokic's credit that he's flirting with another MVP this season. Shai would be the runaway favourite against the majority best seasons of almost any other all time great

I believe it would be the highest ppg 50-40-90 club. And less than 2 TOs a game is wild. Unbelievable so far. Consistently getting 30 before the 4th too. It reminds me of Curry in 16 where he would hardly play the 4th.

It's crazy that he is having this good of a season. As ppl said, probably the best guard season since MJ.

And as you said, it's a testament to how good Jokic is that this is even a conversation. Such great performances all around.

Testament to how good Jokic is that it still shouldn't even be a conversation*

[bbms]

Shai has OKC at a 120 ORTG putting them 4th in the league with his 2nd best offensive player probably being Ajay? Ya the team is deep and stacked with very good defensive pieces but theyre also, good but not great offensively. Shai is carrying that offense just being ruthlessly efficient in the half court and never turning the ball over (a guard of his usage turning the ball over <2 times a game is hugely underrated), and he may join the exclusive 50-40-90 club.

It is to Jokic's credit that he's flirting with another MVP this season. Shai would be the runaway favourite against the majority best seasons of almost any other all time great

the second (and third) best offensive players are clearly chet and hartenstein, not really close. ajay is the second best on ball scorer. not offensive player. not that much of a fan of ajay. i don't think ajay edges wiggins and joe at the moment too.

[bbms]

Shai has OKC at a 120 ORTG putting them 4th in the league with his 2nd best offensive player probably being Ajay? Ya the team is deep and stacked with very good defensive pieces and but theyre also, good but not great offensively. Shai is carrying that offense just being ruthlessly efficient in the half court and never turning the ball over (a guard of his usage turning the ball over <2 times a game is hugely underrated), and he may join the exclusive 50-40-90 club.

It is to Jokic's credit that he's flirting with another MVP this season. Shai would be the runaway favourite against the majority best seasons of almost any other all time great

I believe it would be the highest ppg 50-40-90 club. And less than 2 TOs a game is wild. Unbelievable so far. Consistently getting 30 before the 4th too. It reminds me of Curry in 16 where he would hardly play the 4th.

It's crazy that he is having this good of a season. As ppl said, probably the best guard season since MJ.

And as you said, it's a testament to how good Jokic is that this is even a conversation. Such great performances all around.

agreed, turnovers are getting talked about like peripheral stats in these discussions, but on average a turnover equals to around -2.3 to -2.65 expected points per turnover, depending on how much (%) of those turnovers are live ball turnovers.

(and turnovers from playmakers are more often live ball turnovers than dead ball turnovers, but most of these stats are heavily paywalled and i wont pay for it to use for online discussion).

the difference between shai's turnover rate and players of similar usage can be easily equated from 3 to 5 negative expected points per game.

imagine a 30 ppg scorer with 4 topg. now instead of reading as 4 topg you read as -10 ppg off live ball turnovers. now a 30 ppg scoring season is a lot less impressive when compare with elite ball protectors like maxey and sga, prime mj and kobe...

[_NoMas]

Have to say, even coming into the start of this season I was always lower than most on SGA, and had him below Luka in the best in the world convos. I was wrong, he’s an all time great at the peak of his powers, scary good. We could be having some interesting convos about his rank amongst all time guards when it’s all said and done.

[hagredionis]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

[bbms]

right now shai has 10.7 epm which would be the highest mark ever if the season ended today

[lethalizer]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

Their efficiency currently is so far apart, only talking about ppg wildly undersells how better of a scorer Shai has been currently.

Here you go:

[Special_Puppy]

not sure, but I don't think jokic or doncic would like it if their sidekick was caruso or cason wallace or isaiah joe

I think Jokic and Luka would love it if they had SGA’s supporting cast lol

Oh the old "supporting cast" argument. You use it because you have nothing else. I'm impartial because I'm not a fan of either team, so I just say what I see. I think it's time to get new material champ.

I’m bringing up supporting casts because OP said that SGA and the Thunder were a one man show which I thought was inaccurate

[HotRocks34]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

Luka looks like he's settling into something close to the 33/9/9 version that we saw in 2024.

If he has a 27/8/8 year it would be his 6th, breaking a tie he shares with Oscar for five such years as the most in NBA history.

As far as MVP goes, LA has to hope that Ayton's knee injury isn't too bad or they're likely going to have a problem.

[LordCovington33]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

One is playing 37 minutes, while the other 33. Therefore, raw stats don’t tell the full picture.

[C0bR]

Saying that Shai has a much better supporting cast is not a hypothetical. It's a fact.

If Jokic had Shai's supporting cast, he would massively reduce their output and quality of play due to his all time worst heliocentrism

All time worst heliocentrism? Tell me you don’t you don’t watch basketball without telling me you don’t watch basketball. SGA has a higher usage rate than Jokic. I mean try harder.

Heliocentrism isnt about usage rate but about how much the team actually revovlves around one player. Every single Denver action goes through Jokic, reducing other all star quality players to role player roles.

Just look at MPJ thriving without Jokic.

[Cubbies2120]

If Jokic had Shai's supporting cast, he would massively reduce their output and quality of play due to his all time worst heliocentrism

All time worst heliocentrism? Tell me you don’t you don’t watch basketball without telling me you don’t watch basketball. SGA has a higher usage rate than Jokic. I mean try harder.

Heliocentrism isnt about usage rate but about how much the team actually revovlves around one player. Every single Denver action goes through Jokic, reducing other all star quality players to role player roles.

Just look at MPJ thriving without Jokic.

MPJ had an incredible sophomore season next to Jokic. The problem isn't 'heliocentrism'...19/7 on 54/45/79 on only 13 shots a game.

It's that he was reduced to the #4 option.

If he was the #4 option on the Nets, you'd see even worse numbers than in Denver last year.

[kane0801]

If Jokic had Shai's supporting cast, he would massively reduce their output and quality of play due to his all time worst heliocentrism

All time worst heliocentrism? Tell me you don’t you don’t watch basketball without telling me you don’t watch basketball. SGA has a higher usage rate than Jokic. I mean try harder.

Heliocentrism isnt about usage rate but about how much the team actually revovlves around one player. Every single Denver action goes through Jokic, reducing other all star quality players to role player roles.

Just look at MPJ thriving without Jokic.

Not saying MPJ is bad player,but putting empty stat in tanking team mean nothing

[MMyhre]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

Their efficiency currently is so far apart, only talking about ppg wildly undersells how better of a scorer Shai has been currently.

Here you go:

This one is terrible as well, no minutes played or turnovers.

[AleksandarN]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

Their efficiency currently is so far apart, only talking about ppg wildly undersells how better of a scorer Shai has been currently.

Here you go:

Now let’s do all three to get an even better idea

https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/XMRkd

[1993Playoffs]

SGA has been better than Luka for like 3 years now.

[hagredionis]

Luka 34.6 ppg / 8.8 rpg / 8.9 apg / 2.0 spg

SGA 32.2 ppg / 4.9 rpg / 6.6 apg / 1.5 spg

One is playing 37 minutes, while the other 33. Therefore, raw stats don’t tell the full picture.

Yeah and what that means is that one has more stacked team than the other and can play less minutes.

[slick_watts]

as great as jokic has been it's insane how close shai has kept it. even on all the advanced stuff he's not that far behind. both of them are head and shoulders above luka and giannis so far imo.

one thing that needs to be shouted out from the rooftops about shai that doesn't get appreciated enough is how infrequently he turns the ball over. shai's turnover rate for a 30ppg scorer is historically low. only michael jordan is in the same league as him for multiple seasons.

[Johnny Firpo]

If Jokic had Shai's supporting cast, he would massively reduce their output and quality of play due to his all time worst heliocentrism

All time worst heliocentrism? Tell me you don’t you don’t watch basketball without telling me you don’t watch basketball. SGA has a higher usage rate than Jokic. I mean try harder.

Heliocentrism isnt about usage rate but about how much the team actually revovlves around one player. Every single Denver action goes through Jokic, reducing other all star quality players to role player roles.

Just look at MPJ thriving without Jokic.

Jokic holds the ball for the least amount of time among superstars. He has the most touches, yes, but it's virtually a certainty that both Chet and J-Will would have more FG attempts playing next to him, than they currently have. Not only that, J-Will would actually have more closing opportunity too (taking the last shot, etc.). Listen, I love Shai, but this argument is just bad, sorry. On offense, Jokic is the easiest, best fit for almost all teams. I would rather you have used a defensive fit theory, which, in my opinion, would not be a problem with that roster, but at least it's not a non-starter like your argument. Also, MPJ does not thrive without Jokic, mostly because he already thrived next to him. But if you want to put it that way, MPJ thrives (meaning, has much more shots) on a team that did not have a 1st or 2nd option. Just another bad argument, sorry.