NBA MVP straw poll: Why every game counts for SGA, Jokic, more stars

Despite all the drama surrounding NBA star injuries and availability this season, it hasn’t made any changes at the top of the Most Valuable Player race.

For now.

In ESPN’s second MVP straw poll of the 2025-26 season – a current snapshot of the race using a panel of 100 local, national and international media members surveyed this week – oklahoma city thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander increased your lead denver nuggets Center Nikola Jokic. Gilgeous-Alexander claimed 78 first-place votes and was the only player named on all 100 ballots.

The reigning MVP, who also garnered 20 second-place and two third-place votes, is in the midst of another stellar season, averaging 31.8 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 55.4% from the field for the Western Conference-leading Thunder.

Since the release of our first straw poll in mid-December, SGA’s lead has increased despite the defending champions falling behind. The Thunder were once on pace to win over 70 games, but injuries have brought them back down to earth; After a hot 24-1 start to the season, they are 17-13. That includes the recent abdominal injury to Gilgeous-Alexander, who has already missed seven games and will miss at least a few more as the team announced Thursday that he will be reevaluated in a week.

Such a decline in form would have opened the door to top competition for Gilgeous-Alexander, but in the theme of this season, injuries have dramatically changed the awards landscape.

Jokic retained his second-place finish (18 first-place votes), but a bone bruise he suffered in late December sidelined him for nearly a month, clearly stalling his MVP candidacy.

This certainly doesn’t mean that Jokic has no chance of winning. His stat line – 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game, while shooting 59% overall, 42% from 3 and 84% from the free throw line – certainly helps, although his margin for error has decreased. If Jokic misses two more games, he will be ineligible for MVP and all end-of-season awards. This would end a streak of five consecutive top-two finishes in MVP voting, which is one low boston celtics fables bill russell And Larry Bird for the longest time ever.

Jokic has plenty of company on the 65-game watch. San Antonio Spurs Center Victor Wembanyama It jumped from eighth place in the December poll to fourth place with three first-place votes and landed on 75 ballots. But Wembanyama has missed 13 games (actually he missed 14 games but he gets credit for the NBA Cup title game), meaning he could only miss four games the rest of the season.

But in his third season, the French phenom has been tremendous again, averaging 24.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and a league-leading 2.7 blocks per game. If he stays healthy, and if San Antonio can make it three games, where it currently sits in first place in the West behind OKC, Wembanyama could repeat the run in 2022-23, when philadelphia 76ers Center Joel Embiid’s late charge earned him the MVP over Jokic.

Meanwhile, ranked fifth in the survey, Los Angeles Lakers guard luka doncicHas already missed 12 games. Two other vote getters– LA Clippers Ahead kawhi leonard (13 missed games) and minnesota timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (10 missed games) – Another injury could put his eligibility in jeopardy. And that doesn’t even matter giannis antetokounmpo Or Lebron JamesEach of which has already fallen short of the 65-game requirement. (Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry No straw poll votes were received and two games were left out from not being award eligible.)

But all the injuries at the top have created opportunities for other players. detroit pistons guard Cade CunninghamJoe, who finished third with one first-place vote, has been the engine behind Detroit’s remarkable season, putting the Pistons on top of the conference and leading them to home-court advantage in the first round for the first time since 2008.

and together jayson tatum Still sidelined – though potentially close to a return – due to an Achilles injury suffered in last year’s playoffs, the Celtics forward jaylen brown continued his remarkable campaign and finished sixth in the straw poll. Given that Brown was ranked ninth in the December poll, his jump is indicative of both his impressive play and the short-handed Celtics hitting the All-Star break in second place in the East.

Completing the ballot included a trio of East All-Stars: cleveland cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (11 total votes, 27 total points, seventh place), new York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (7 votes, 17 total points, ninth place) and 76ers guard tyreese maxi (4 total votes, 10 total points, 10th place).

Full NBA MVP Straw Poll Results