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

[bbms]

just one turnover

complain to refs in the middle of that thing

[RB34]

How good is Jokic's playmaking? I often read here that Jokic is the best playmaker in the NBA, a GOAT level playmaker who elevates his teammates like no other player but today I've noticed that MPJ went from averaging 17 / 18 ppg in Denver to 25 ppg this season.

6 more points taking 5 more shots and shooting a lower percentage on one of the worst teams in the league.

What an indictment on Joker.

Edit: MPJ also has higher usage than Jokic

[Infinite Llamas]

How good is Jokic's playmaking? I often read here that Jokic is the best playmaker in the NBA, a GOAT level playmaker who elevates his teammates like no other player but today I've noticed that MPJ went from averaging 17 / 18 ppg in Denver to 25 ppg this season.

6 more points taking 5 more shots and shooting a lower percentage on one of the worst teams in the league.

What an indictment on Joker.

Edit: MPJ also has higher usage than Jokic

There are clearly levels to it that people conveniently ignore.

[scrabbarista]

OKC is so good that they shouldn't trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo: their depth is so good that they win 90% of their games without their second best player. You don't gut a bench that good. Your team will get worse, not better.

The Nuggets, otoh, couldn't trade for Giannis even if they wanted. They don't have the value. Aaron Gordon+Jamal Murray+picks would be rejected by Milwaukee. And trading the bench guys is laughable.

Food for thought.

[Optms]

Murray saw Jokic come up short and decided he needed to drop 50 just so the Nuggets could overcome another subpar team.

This race is cooked.

[hagredionis]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

[Mavrelous]

The claim about Jokic not having an elite supporting cast is based on flawed understanding of on/off stats.
Jokic is the most effective offensive force and will likely finish top 10 all time, but his success is heavily dependant on his supporting cast, like all grewt players, and w/o them his team has performed demonstrabely worse and was an afterthought in contender discussions.

[MMyhre]

How good is Jokic's playmaking? I often read here that Jokic is the best playmaker in the NBA, a GOAT level playmaker who elevates his teammates like no other player but today I've noticed that MPJ went from averaging 17 / 18 ppg in Denver to 25 ppg this season.

6 more points taking 5 more shots and shooting a lower percentage on one of the worst teams in the league.

What an indictment on Joker.

Edit: MPJ also has higher usage than Jokic

He has basically the same ts % as last year with 61.6 % (61.7 ts % last year), despite scoring 7.1 more points a game. That's a very impressive thing to achieve, especially on a terrible team like the Nets.
To score more, you need to take more shots, shocking. He also gets more free throws and shoots them at a higher %, making his efficiency just the same as playing with Jokic last year.

No need to stupidify yourself to "protect" Jokic.

[MMyhre]

OKC is so good that they shouldn't trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo: their depth is so good that they win 90% of their games without their second best player. You don't gut a bench that good. Your team will get worse, not better.

The Nuggets, otoh, couldn't trade for Giannis even if they wanted. They don't have the value. Aaron Gordon+Jamal Murray+picks would be rejected by Milwaukee. And trading the bench guys is laughable.

Food for thought.

A lot of that is just because Giannis needs to play on ball and is a bad 3pt shooter, and a regressing athlete with an athletic dependent playstyle who has become a worse defender for many years. The fit is awkward. He is also seemingly becoming more injury prone, which combined with his playstyle and age adds to the risk factor which makes the trade make less sense for OKC, because they already have the tools to win the NBA + tons of future stuff coming in the door. No need to take a risk when you are already trending upwards.

If Giannis could shoot threes and play off-ball, or even if he was just at his DPOY defensive level it would be a no-brainer.

Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray are older players with injury proneness. That's why it would be rejected, not necessarily because both of them are such bad players that you can't win with.

[canada_dry]

The claim about Jokic not having an elite supporting cast is based on flawed understanding of on/off stats.
Jokic is the most effective offensive force and will likely finish top 10 all time, but his success is heavily dependant on his supporting cast, like all grewt players, and w/o them his team has performed demonstrabely worse and was an afterthought in contender discussions.

That rhetoric has been whats been so annoying the past couple years.

Sent from my SM-S911W using RealGM mobile app

[Cubbies2120]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

Absolutely does. Speaks to Jokic's 'gravity' (remember that Curry argument for almost a decade?)

3 of the top 5 TS% games of ALL TIME (on 50+ points) were playmade by the GOAT playmaker in Jokic.

The sportsbooks, who are in the business of making money, understand this and still have Jokic as the favorite, despite a 20-1 record of the Thunder

Also that 50 point scorer Gordon has been missing almost half the season and likely won't be back til the ASG, so hopefully voters see how a huge piece of the lineup is out, right?!

[AleksandarN]

How good is Jokic's playmaking? I often read here that Jokic is the best playmaker in the NBA, a GOAT level playmaker who elevates his teammates like no other player but today I've noticed that MPJ went from averaging 17 / 18 ppg in Denver to 25 ppg this season.

6 more points taking 5 more shots and shooting a lower percentage on one of the worst teams in the league.

What an indictment on Joker.

Edit: MPJ also has higher usage than Jokic

There are clearly levels to it that people conveniently ignore.

Or don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand. Or they are intellectual dishonest. I will let you guys decide on that one

[hagredionis]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

Absolutely does. Speaks to Jokic's 'gravity' (remember that Curry argument for almost a decade?)

3 of the top 5 TS% games of ALL TIME (on 50+ points) were playmade by the GOAT playmaker in Jokic.

The sportsbooks, who are in the business of making money, understand this and still have Jokic as the favorite, despite a 20-1 record of the Thunder

Also that 50 point scorer Gordon has been missing almost half the season and likely won't be back til the ASG, so hopefully voters see how a huge piece of the lineup is out, right?!

Well MPJ went from averaging 18 ppg last year playing with the GOAT playmaker to averaging 25 pgg playing for the Nets. Interesting numbers for the "GOAT playmaker" theory

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[Optms]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

Absolutely does. Speaks to Jokic's 'gravity' (remember that Curry argument for almost a decade?)

3 of the top 5 TS% games of ALL TIME (on 50+ points) were playmade by the GOAT playmaker in Jokic.

The sportsbooks, who are in the business of making money, understand this and still have Jokic as the favorite, despite a 20-1 record of the Thunder

Also that 50 point scorer Gordon has been missing almost half the season and likely won't be back til the ASG, so hopefully voters see how a huge piece of the lineup is out, right?!

Well MPJ went from averaging 18 ppg last year playing with the GOAT playmaker to averaging 25 pgg playing for the Nets. Interesting numbers for the "GOAT playmaker" theory

Bruh.

We literately had teams pick up Curry at the 3 point line, with defenders all eying Curry when he was just standing in the corner. The man didn't even need to touch the ball to massively change the game. Joker will never even sniff 1/10th of that gravity even with the ball. Ridiculous argument that I'm shocked you even replied to.

[Cubbies2120]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

Absolutely does. Speaks to Jokic's 'gravity' (remember that Curry argument for almost a decade?)

3 of the top 5 TS% games of ALL TIME (on 50+ points) were playmade by the GOAT playmaker in Jokic.

The sportsbooks, who are in the business of making money, understand this and still have Jokic as the favorite, despite a 20-1 record of the Thunder

Also that 50 point scorer Gordon has been missing almost half the season and likely won't be back til the ASG, so hopefully voters see how a huge piece of the lineup is out, right?!

Well MPJ went from averaging 18 ppg last year playing with the GOAT playmaker to averaging 25 pgg playing for the Nets. Interesting numbers for the "GOAT playmaker" theory

Remind me what MPJ's career highs were again? Oh, last year, with Jokic double digit assists... 39 pts on 23 shots, 36 pts on 22 shots


MPJ last year taking 19 shots per 100 possessions and scoring 26 pts per 100
MPJ this year taking 28 shots per 100 possessions and scoring 38 pts per 100

All on worse efficiency, on a bad team

[Cubbies2120]

Absolutely does. Speaks to Jokic's 'gravity' (remember that Curry argument for almost a decade?)

3 of the top 5 TS% games of ALL TIME (on 50+ points) were playmade by the GOAT playmaker in Jokic.

The sportsbooks, who are in the business of making money, understand this and still have Jokic as the favorite, despite a 20-1 record of the Thunder

Also that 50 point scorer Gordon has been missing almost half the season and likely won't be back til the ASG, so hopefully voters see how a huge piece of the lineup is out, right?!

Well MPJ went from averaging 18 ppg last year playing with the GOAT playmaker to averaging 25 pgg playing for the Nets. Interesting numbers for the "GOAT playmaker" theory

Bruh.

We literately had teams pick up Curry at the 3 point line, with defenders all eying Curry when he was just standing in the corner. The man didn't even need to touch the ball to massively change the game. Joker will never even sniff 1/10th of that gravity even with the ball. Ridiculous argument that I'm shocked you even replied to.

Wow...teams picked up Curry at the 3 point line?! Crazy, to defend a 3 point shooter at the...3 point line

Fun fact, Jokic has a higher single season playoff 3pt % than Curry...despite Curry having the luxury of playing with KD (Batman) and Klay (2nd GOAT shooter)

There's a reason that he's being put into all time top 10 debates with only 1 ring and it's because his offensive game clears everyone except MAYBE Michael Jordan's best season.

LeBron (some say the GOAT BBIQ) himself said Jokic is the most dominant player he's ever played against.

Reminder, he's played vs:
Shaq
Kobe
Curry
SGA

https://lakersnation.com/lakers-video-lebron-james-calls-nikola-jokic-most-dominant-complete-player-hes-played-against/#:~:text=LeBron%20James%20wants%20to%20finish,to%20the%202025%2D26%20season.

LeBron, the 2nd GOAT by many people's opinions, said Jokic is the most dominant and complete player he's played against. I know that hurt your soul lil bro

[Handlez]

SGA is clearly ahead and that has nothing to do with Joker.

OKC is just too dominant with SGA leading the way.

[Infinite Llamas]

So Murray and Gordon both scored 50 points this season. That has to be taken into consideration when thinking about the MVP race.

So Luka is out of the convo based on that logic because Reaves is having a better year than Murray or Gordon?

[Infinite Llamas]

The claim about Jokic not having an elite supporting cast is based on flawed understanding of on/off stats.
Jokic is the most effective offensive force and will likely finish top 10 all time, but his success is heavily dependant on his supporting cast, like all grewt players, and w/o them his team has performed demonstrabely worse and was an afterthought in contender discussions.

Nobody says Murray or AG suck. Nobody.

But they are also injury prone players. MPJ was effective as a scorer but useless in every other facet. Braun is improving but is a spotty outside shooter. Watson is still developing. Will Barton was a mess. Paul Millsap was old and immobile. KCP was good, but became too expensive.

Jokic isn’t the first great player to have struggles with a reliable cast around him but it’s pronounced because these guys are rarely healthy at the same time or consistent enough. We saw what a healthy, clicking Denver team looked like in 2023. They just haven’t been able to replicate those results.