Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander atop NBA MVP race for majority of players
The Athletic released their anonymous player poll and Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is favored to win NBA MVP.
Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander atop NBA MVP race for majority of players originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . A lot of talk has been going around the league about who should be crowned NBA MVP.
People argue that Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama deserve it way more. For players who go up against these legends, they all seem to only have one answer: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Oklahoma City Thunder star impressed his peers quite a lot during the 2025-26 season and it showed on The Athletic's anonymous player poll.
Why Gilgeous-Alexander ranks high in NBA MVP talks among his peers The Thunder superstar had a sizable lead over the other NBA MVP candidates when it came to The Athletic's anonymous player poll . Among 159 NBA players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the top pick to win the award as he notched 39% of the votes. Nikola Jokic only ranked second by garnering 21.
4% of the votes from his peers. Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham, and Luka Doncic all got tied up at third as they each notched 8. 2% of the votes.