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

[_NoMas]

The main problem I have with SGA (as amazing as he is) is that the Thunder are still a 60 win team without him. You could put him on the Blazers and let him carry that team to 50 wins and it'd look incredible. But making an already dominant team slightly more dominant just doesnt feel as special, at least to me.

it's nothing slightly more dominant.

it's a lot more dominant. by all impact metrics he's been having all time impact. w/o shai thunder's offense is below league average, which would be way worse than the current top 5 offensive rating and shai do the heavy lifting while keeping it stable with consistency and efficient, with low turnover rate.

again, an offense that doesn't turn the ball over is an offense that is defensively responsible. any bad team in the league in transition after a live ball turnover is efficient like the best offenses in the league. having to defend in transition on average is like having to defend vs the all time greatest offenses (~1.35-1.40 ppp on average). people don't realize how shai's offensive dna is in synch with thunder's dna.

the fact he's one of the rare offensive juggernauts that isn't a weak link on defense is underplayef by your argument. this season the thunder is 108 ortg in non shai minutes, that would be like one of the worst offenses in the nba, would be like a +4 netrtg (considering a stable defensive rating which is not granted) not dominant at all btw considering the same outcome defensively.

you guys are currently tilted too much about raw points rebounds and assist and occssionally some advanced stats like ts% and raw on/off data.

sga volume and efficiency as a high usage scoring is top 3 all time already. and the other guys in his tier ended up as super duper champions too. so what are you missing is probably the most important thing.

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

[antonac]

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

For me, what damages Shai's case a bit is OKC are an excellent offensive team, but they're not even best in the league.

It's defense where they dominate, this is a defensive team, the difference between them and second is the same as the difference between 2nd place and 10th place (if it wasn't for the Celtics also being great on defense it would be the difference between 2nd and 19th place, literally non-play-off teams). It's a bit like saying Draymond should have been MVP for being the main defender on GSW while the rest of the team were offensive monsters.

[Andri]

The main problem I have with SGA (as amazing as he is) is that the Thunder are still a 60 win team without him. You could put him on the Blazers and let him carry that team to 50 wins and it'd look incredible. But making an already dominant team slightly more dominant just doesnt feel as special, at least to me.

it's nothing slightly more dominant.

it's a lot more dominant. by all impact metrics he's been having all time impact. w/o shai thunder's offense is below league average, which would be way worse than the current top 5 offensive rating and shai do the heavy lifting while keeping it stable with consistency and efficient, with low turnover rate.

again, an offense that doesn't turn the ball over is an offense that is defensively responsible. any bad team in the league in transition after a live ball turnover is efficient like the best offenses in the league. having to defend in transition on average is like having to defend vs the all time greatest offenses (~1.35-1.40 ppp on average). people don't realize how shai's offensive dna is in synch with thunder's dna.

the fact he's one of the rare offensive juggernauts that isn't a weak link on defense is underplayef by your argument. this season the thunder is 108 ortg in non shai minutes, that would be like one of the worst offenses in the nba, would be like a +4 netrtg (considering a stable defensive rating which is not granted) not dominant at all btw considering the same outcome defensively.

you guys are currently tilted too much about raw points rebounds and assist and occssionally some advanced stats like ts% and raw on/off data.

sga volume and efficiency as a high usage scoring is top 3 all time already. and the other guys in his tier ended up as super duper champions too. so what are you missing is probably the most important thing.

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

That has been my point, and the reason to point that Presti is the real MVP, while SGA is amazing no doubt.

Moreover, if you replace SGA with another SG that is good although not elite, in OKC roster, I believe you still have the best team in the league.

I would say Shai is the icing on the cake, a great one, the one that lifts offensively the team, but not as valuable as Jokic. Again, my 2 cents.

[Exp0sed]

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

For me, what damages Shai's case a bit is OKC are an excellent offensive team, but they're not even best in the league.

It's defense where they dominate, this is a defensive team, the difference between them and second is the same as the difference between 2nd place and 10th place (if it wasn't for the Celtics also being great on defense it would be the difference between 2nd and 19th place, literally non-play-off teams). It's a bit like saying Draymond should have been MVP for being the main defender on GSW while the rest of the team were offensive monsters.

I feel a bit the same way

I was watching the first half of their game against Portland. PDX has been playing ok and gave the Thunder their only loss earlier in the season. they had key starters like Jrue and Sharpe out with injury, so short handed

Avdija has been carving up the league and the Thunder wanted to make a point defensively, on Avdija specifically and PDX in general and boy...that was some scary stuff

Avdija looked like Trae Young vs. the Heat in that series a couple of years ago

I think they have a legit case for being the best defensive team off all times. they wouldnn't be as good as say the Ben Wallace Pistons in that era's rules but in this era's rules, they are far and beyond the best defensive team

if SGA is considered the fronr runner mostly because of team wins, it's hard to ignore the fact that those wins are more predicated on defense, than they are on offense. teams just can't score against them, turn the ball over every other play..it's kinda nuts

while SGA is a very good defender he's not the main driver of that defense

[QPR]

He's a very good disruptor and gets good defensive counting stats. I wouldn't call him a very good man to man defender, but then he doesn't have to be given the ridiculous defensive depth OKC has.

[bbms]

it's nothing slightly more dominant.

it's a lot more dominant. by all impact metrics he's been having all time impact. w/o shai thunder's offense is below league average, which would be way worse than the current top 5 offensive rating and shai do the heavy lifting while keeping it stable with consistency and efficient, with low turnover rate.

again, an offense that doesn't turn the ball over is an offense that is defensively responsible. any bad team in the league in transition after a live ball turnover is efficient like the best offenses in the league. having to defend in transition on average is like having to defend vs the all time greatest offenses (~1.35-1.40 ppp on average). people don't realize how shai's offensive dna is in synch with thunder's dna.

the fact he's one of the rare offensive juggernauts that isn't a weak link on defense is underplayef by your argument. this season the thunder is 108 ortg in non shai minutes, that would be like one of the worst offenses in the nba, would be like a +4 netrtg (considering a stable defensive rating which is not granted) not dominant at all btw considering the same outcome defensively.

you guys are currently tilted too much about raw points rebounds and assist and occssionally some advanced stats like ts% and raw on/off data.

sga volume and efficiency as a high usage scoring is top 3 all time already. and the other guys in his tier ended up as super duper champions too. so what are you missing is probably the most important thing.

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

That has been my point, and the reason to point that Presti is the real MVP, while SGA is amazing no doubt.

Moreover, if you replace SGA with another SG that is good although not elite, in OKC roster, I believe you still have the best team in the league.

I would say Shai is the icing on the cake, a great one, the one that lifts offensively the team, but not as valuable as Jokic. Again, my 2 cents.

this is completely disagreeable. this is not practical. reality beats hypoyheticals all day.

sga is not some icing on the cake he was the one who elevated himself from the pack of prospects and made the rest fit around him.

again, the turnover differential department, the shot selection and shooting inconsistencies around the star playmaker are being significantly overlooked. the fact that sga is at least the second most impactful offensive player with a margin against the field in the league without adding a defensive weak link is what make this team so good.

take the best guard of the rest, which is doncic. you just destroyed team identity and everything that made this team from the ground

in fact the only player in the league imo that could replace sga in this roster while keeping it elite is not even a guard. it's giannis. he fits the boxes as he's been the one in this league that's been consistently brute forcing the middle on a north/south offense.

[MoneyTalks41890]

SGA is replaceable with any old shooting guard

[Andri]

SGA is replaceable with any old shooting guard

Well, it seems that either the lack of reading comprehension or the twisting of words to build your own narrative, or both, are in fashion!

[Mavrelous]

EPM is trending up and up, Jokic, SGA and Giannis are posting EPMs never seen before, there are 2 options:
1. This is a product of players being better, even better than prime LeBron, 2016 Steph and KD.
Or
2 In the advent of analytics and availability of masterminds in roster construction, lineup analysis tools and video tracking systems that categorize which shots are better for which players, teams are optimizing the rosters better around their offensive savants magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.
I tend to think it's 2, we're not seeing better players than prime LeBron and Steph, but hey, maybe I'm wrong...

[MoneyTalks41890]

EPM is trending up and up, Jokic, SGA and Giannis are posting EPMs never seen before, there are 2 options:
1. This is a product of players being better, even better than prime LeBron, 2016 Steph and KD.
Or
2 In the advent of analytics and availability of masterminds in roster construction, lineup analysis tools and video tracking systems that categorize which shots are better for which players, teams are optimizing the rosters better around their offensive savants magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.
I tend to think it's 2, we're not seeing better players than prime LeBron and Steph, but hey, maybe I'm wrong...

What weaknesses does Shai have? I’m being serious.

Because if you watch him play, it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing as well as Steph or KD have.

Shooting percentages aren’t advanced stats.

And if you don’t think Jokic’s current play rivals some of Bron’s better seasons I’m not sure what to tell you.

[Mavrelous]

EPM is trending up and up, Jokic, SGA and Giannis are posting EPMs never seen before, there are 2 options:
1. This is a product of players being better, even better than prime LeBron, 2016 Steph and KD.
Or
2 In the advent of analytics and availability of masterminds in roster construction, lineup analysis tools and video tracking systems that categorize which shots are better for which players, teams are optimizing the rosters better around their offensive savants magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.
I tend to think it's 2, we're not seeing better players than prime LeBron and Steph, but hey, maybe I'm wrong...

What weaknesses does Shai have? I’m being serious.

Because if you watch him play, it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing as well as Steph or KD have.

Shooting percentages aren’t advanced stats.

And if you don’t think Jokic’s current play rivals some of Bron’s better seasons I’m not sure what to tell you.

His main weakness is play making, he's not on the level of elite guard like Luka, Harden or even LeBron, Jokic main weakness is defense, especially being a center which is much harder to scheme around than a guard/forward.
This isn't to say that Luka and Harden are better, they have other areas of weakness.

EPM isn't saying Jokic "rivals" prime LeBron and 2016 Steph, it says he's flat out better, 2016 Steph had EPM of 7.3, LeBron had single season of 9.1 carrying bad CLE roster, 2012 and 2013 LeBron was sub 8 EPM.
I fully believe both SGA and Jokic are more "impactful" than LeBron, but it's a product also of the roster around them, not just their brilliance, which is also undeniable.

[Optms]

EPM is trending up and up, Jokic, SGA and Giannis are posting EPMs never seen before, there are 2 options:
1. This is a product of players being better, even better than prime LeBron, 2016 Steph and KD.
Or
2 In the advent of analytics and availability of masterminds in roster construction, lineup analysis tools and video tracking systems that categorize which shots are better for which players, teams are optimizing the rosters better around their offensive savants magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.
I tend to think it's 2, we're not seeing better players than prime LeBron and Steph, but hey, maybe I'm wrong...

What weaknesses does Shai have? I’m being serious.

Because if you watch him play, it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing as well as Steph or KD have.

Shooting percentages aren’t advanced stats.

And if you don’t think Jokic’s current play rivals some of Bron’s better seasons I’m not sure what to tell you.

No one is better than prime Lebron but Shai's current season is very similar to Curry's 2016 year. No he is not changing the game offensively but from my observation Shai is doing two things Steph could not replicate that season. And that is he's play meaningful defense (Curry was not good) and (currently) leading a team to a record setting pace without its second option. Curry had Klay and Green for the majority if not all of the 2016 campaign. So what Shai is doing with an injured roster is down right other worldly.

2025 Shai is shaping up to be one for the record. Thunder may pass 70 wins, Shai wins MVP (again) and also, unlike Curry in 2016, there is no Lebron keeping Shai from leading OKC to back to back titles. So its very likely that he even surpasses 2016 Curry. This is just shaping up to be a legendary season. This race could realistically be over by All Star break.

[lethalizer]

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

For me, what damages Shai's case a bit is OKC are an excellent offensive team, but they're not even best in the league.

It's defense where they dominate, this is a defensive team, the difference between them and second is the same as the difference between 2nd place and 10th place (if it wasn't for the Celtics also being great on defense it would be the difference between 2nd and 19th place, literally non-play-off teams). It's a bit like saying Draymond should have been MVP for being the main defender on GSW while the rest of the team were offensive monsters.

I feel a bit the same way

I was watching the first half of their game against Portland. PDX has been playing ok and gave the Thunder their only loss earlier in the season. they had key starters like Jrue and Sharpe out with injury, so short handed

Avdija has been carving up the league and the Thunder wanted to make a point defensively, on Avdija specifically and PDX in general and boy...that was some scary stuff

Avdija looked like Trae Young vs. the Heat in that series a couple of years ago

I think they have a legit case for being the best defensive team off all times. they wouldnn't be as good as say the Ben Wallace Pistons in that era's rules but in this era's rules, they are far and beyond the best defensive team

if SGA is considered the fronr runner mostly because of team wins, it's hard to ignore the fact that those wins are more predicated on defense, than they are on offense. teams just can't score against them, turn the ball over every other play..it's kinda nuts

while SGA is a very good defender he's not the main driver of that defense

If you watched that first half and haven't noticed Shai putting up 28 points on 10/11 shooting, that kinda falls on you tbh.

Think it's a bit of confirmation bias on your end.

[MavsDirk41]

EPM is trending up and up, Jokic, SGA and Giannis are posting EPMs never seen before, there are 2 options:
1. This is a product of players being better, even better than prime LeBron, 2016 Steph and KD.
Or
2 In the advent of analytics and availability of masterminds in roster construction, lineup analysis tools and video tracking systems that categorize which shots are better for which players, teams are optimizing the rosters better around their offensive savants magnifying their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses.
I tend to think it's 2, we're not seeing better players than prime LeBron and Steph, but hey, maybe I'm wrong...

What weaknesses does Shai have? I’m being serious.

Because if you watch him play, it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing as well as Steph or KD have.

Shooting percentages aren’t advanced stats.

And if you don’t think Jokic’s current play rivals some of Bron’s better seasons I’m not sure what to tell you.

No one is better than prime Lebron but Shai's current season is very similar to Curry's 2016 year. No he is not changing the game offensively but from my observation Shai is doing two things Steph could not replicate that season. And that is he's play meaningful defense (Curry was not good) and (currently) leading a team to a record setting pace without its second option. Curry had Klay and Green for the majority if not all of the 2016 campaign. So what Shai is doing with an injured roster is down right other worldly.

2025 Shai is shaping up to be one for the record. Thunder may pass 70 wins, Shai wins MVP (again) and also, unlike Curry in 2016, there is no Lebron keeping Shai from leading OKC to back to back titles. So its very likely that he even surpasses 2016 Curry. This is just shaping up to be a legendary season. This race could realistically be over by All Star break.

Do you actually believe everything you wrote in this post?

[Optms]

What weaknesses does Shai have? I’m being serious.

Because if you watch him play, it’s not a stretch to say he’s playing as well as Steph or KD have.

Shooting percentages aren’t advanced stats.

And if you don’t think Jokic’s current play rivals some of Bron’s better seasons I’m not sure what to tell you.

No one is better than prime Lebron but Shai's current season is very similar to Curry's 2016 year. No he is not changing the game offensively but from my observation Shai is doing two things Steph could not replicate that season. And that is he's play meaningful defense (Curry was not good) and (currently) leading a team to a record setting pace without its second option. Curry had Klay and Green for the majority if not all of the 2016 campaign. So what Shai is doing with an injured roster is down right other worldly.

2025 Shai is shaping up to be one for the record. Thunder may pass 70 wins, Shai wins MVP (again) and also, unlike Curry in 2016, there is no Lebron keeping Shai from leading OKC to back to back titles. So its very likely that he even surpasses 2016 Curry. This is just shaping up to be a legendary season. This race could realistically be over by All Star break.

Do you actually believe everything you wrote in this post?

Which part are you having trouble believing?

[MMyhre]

it's nothing slightly more dominant.

it's a lot more dominant. by all impact metrics he's been having all time impact. w/o shai thunder's offense is below league average, which would be way worse than the current top 5 offensive rating and shai do the heavy lifting while keeping it stable with consistency and efficient, with low turnover rate.

again, an offense that doesn't turn the ball over is an offense that is defensively responsible. any bad team in the league in transition after a live ball turnover is efficient like the best offenses in the league. having to defend in transition on average is like having to defend vs the all time greatest offenses (~1.35-1.40 ppp on average). people don't realize how shai's offensive dna is in synch with thunder's dna.

the fact he's one of the rare offensive juggernauts that isn't a weak link on defense is underplayef by your argument. this season the thunder is 108 ortg in non shai minutes, that would be like one of the worst offenses in the nba, would be like a +4 netrtg (considering a stable defensive rating which is not granted) not dominant at all btw considering the same outcome defensively.

you guys are currently tilted too much about raw points rebounds and assist and occssionally some advanced stats like ts% and raw on/off data.

sga volume and efficiency as a high usage scoring is top 3 all time already. and the other guys in his tier ended up as super duper champions too. so what are you missing is probably the most important thing.

Agree with most of what you said. Shai is the offence, and he’s my current MVP front runner. But, OKC are a +8.4 net rating when Shai is off the floor, that would be good for 4th in the league. Also bare in mind that’s without J-Dub too… if OKC had a healthy roster and no Shai, I’m sure they’d be at least a 50+ win team, off the back of that insane defence.

That has been my point, and the reason to point that Presti is the real MVP, while SGA is amazing no doubt.

Moreover, if you replace SGA with another SG that is good although not elite, in OKC roster, I believe you still have the best team in the league.

I would say Shai is the icing on the cake, a great one, the one that lifts offensively the team, but not as valuable as Jokic. Again, my 2 cents.

Zzz. Where was this take last season? The team has gotten better, but so has SGA. Chet still has games where he gets 5-8 pts.
J-Dub hasn't played.

They could get 50 + without him, maybe.

No way they are the best in the league though. Too little shot creation and reliable scoring. Very inconsistent 3pt shooting team as well, and some of the new contributors in Mitchell are unproven in the postseason.

[MMyhre]

I have to say, I think Jokic is the best passer ever.

He seems to have turned it up a notch, and that no look wraparound pass he did recently might be the best pass ever.

I need to watch some Magic Johnson again, but I think Jokic is better.

[MavsDirk41]

No one is better than prime Lebron but Shai's current season is very similar to Curry's 2016 year. No he is not changing the game offensively but from my observation Shai is doing two things Steph could not replicate that season. And that is he's play meaningful defense (Curry was not good) and (currently) leading a team to a record setting pace without its second option. Curry had Klay and Green for the majority if not all of the 2016 campaign. So what Shai is doing with an injured roster is down right other worldly.

2025 Shai is shaping up to be one for the record. Thunder may pass 70 wins, Shai wins MVP (again) and also, unlike Curry in 2016, there is no Lebron keeping Shai from leading OKC to back to back titles. So its very likely that he even surpasses 2016 Curry. This is just shaping up to be a legendary season. This race could realistically be over by All Star break.

Do you actually believe everything you wrote in this post?

Which part are you having trouble believing?

Jordan won DPOY while also winning the nba scoring title one year. Wilt put up 50 points and 25 rebounds a game during his time. I get you are a James fan but how do you know that nobody is better than his prime? And yes SGA has been amazing, but look at what Jokic is doing without two starters. Ive never seen a player carry a team like Jokic. He does more for his team then any other player in the league, and has for many years now.

[Optms]

Do you actually believe everything you wrote in this post?

Which part are you having trouble believing?

Jordan won DPOY while also winning the nba scoring title one year. Wilt put up 50 points and 25 rebounds a game during his time. I get you are a James fan but how do you know that nobody is better than his prime? And yes SGA has been amazing, but look at what Jokic is doing without two starters. Ive never seen a player carry a team like Jokic. He does more for his team then any other player in the league, and has for many years now.

For clarification, I meant in the current era no one is better than prime LeBron. For the record, LeBron is the GOAT IMO but that wasn't the statement I was trying to make. As far the Jokic statement, go back and see who was on the the 2007 Finals Cleveland team and that basically will tell you who the GOAT floor raiser is.

Fast forward and then you'll have further verification with Lebron actually carrying a similar Cav's roster to back to back 60 win seasons in 2008 and 2009. Something Jokic has never done. The contrast becomes even more apparent when in the summer of 2010, Cleveland went from a 61 win team to a 19 win team overnight. So ask yourself - Do you really think this current Nuggets team is a 19 win team if Jokic doesn't play a single game? Who believes that? This doesn't even touch base on the carry job Lebron did when Kyrie was injured in 2018. We saw what happened when Murray was injured in the playoffs. Nuggets go nowhere. Not even the WCF.

Whether it is regular season or playoffs, Lebron did more with less while playing elite basketball on both sides. Something no current or past player in history can claim. The evidence and records are all there. Jordan may have more rings but he couldn't carry a team of scrubs like Lebron. No one could.

[JHFVF07]

I voted Luka, cause reasons...but is really hard to argue against SGA(team record and numbers) and Jokic(NUMBERS).