This is a battle for MVP

The 2025-26 season has a wide list of potential players to win the trophy. MVP Which players will compete for the title of Most Valuable Player for the 2025-26 season?

The stats speak for themselves and there are four obvious players left. Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic They are the favorites for the trophy. This is how the four-star team started the season.

Nikola Jokic

Nikola Jokic He is the leading candidate for MVP. pivot of denver nuggets The average statistics are terrible. Additionally, his team is off to a great start, going 13-4 in their first 17 games and in third place in the Western Conference.

He is the league’s fifth-highest scorer, averaging 29.6 points. 2nd place reboundonly behind “Alien” Victor Wenbanyama (12.9) 12.8 per game. and lead clearly attendee table and 11.1 assists He is followed by Josh Guidy (9.5) per game. All players played 34.8 minutes per game.

Not only that, but his season is also the best in shooting percentage in history. a success in shooting field of 62.6% He’s hitting 70% on two-pointers and 43% on three-pointers per game, making him look like a 3-point shooter. To give you an idea of ​​the magnitude of what the three-time MVP accomplished, Stephen Curry, the best shooter in basketball history, has a 39.9% accuracy rate on 3-point shots.

These stats not only prove that the Serbian player is having a great season; game score what you are averaging 31.8. This data is an advanced statistic for evaluating a player’s performance in a single match based on traditional statistics.

The average player in the league can have a game score of 10 per game, anything above 20 indicates good performance, and anything above 30 is usually dominant. So, based on this statistic, it is common to see great performances from Nikola Jokic. The Serbian also set the previous record of 30.5. Last season. Before that, Michael Jordan led this statistic after the 1988-89 campaign.

So the last three campaigns are Jokic These represent three of the five best starts to a season by a player since game scores began being kept in 1983.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Next to the Serb is the current MVP. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. current champion leader NBA And the best franchise of the moment, oklahoma city thunder. They are the first in the Western Conference with a perfect record of 18 wins and 1 loss.

canada average 32.6 points Second highest per game record in the league. We are also distributing 6.6 assists and capture 4.9 rebounds every match.

All the stats he typically averages in the first three quarters, viz. OKC It’s a huge exaggeration that a franchise’s best player can afford to rest the last quarter.

If there is one thing that stands out when giving an MVP, it is shythat would be the advantage of the team he belongs to. Assuming his numbers are clear MVP. However, if a team wins, that team’s best player also has a better chance of winning an individual award.

Giannis Antetokounmpo

If any factor may cause harm Giannis Antetokounmpoat the team level. milwaukee bucks They’re not having a great year, even though their star players are putting up historic numbers. of dollar As a result of a disappointing record of 8 wins and 11 losses, they are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.

The Greek suffered from an injury that kept him off the court for several games. After 13 games, he has an average performance, but 31.2 point, 10.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists. Defensively, he continues to be impressive in the paint, recording 1.2 blocks per game.

This will be his third season, averaging 10/30/6.. Aside from Jokic this year, this feat has only been accomplished three other times in NBA history, twice by Oscar Robertson and once by Russell Westbrook.

He continues to set historic numbers, but on top of that, the Greek continues to evolve and improve year after year. This season he 62% with a field goal 50% in triplethe more costly side Giannis. So even if he returns to the same level after his injury, even if he’s a little behind the aforementioned players, he’s still a candidate for Player of the Year.

Luka Doncic

Luka Doncic often accompanies him to games. angeles lakers, austin reeves And now, lebron james They have been a key part of getting the franchise this far. of lakers They sit in second place in the Western Conference behind OKC, with a 13-4 record and currently on a five-game winning streak.

After 13 games, the Slovenian leads the league in points average. 35.2 points. Not only that, but we also distribute 9.2 assists and capture 8.8 rebounds He averages close to a triple-double per game.

His shooting percentage could hurt the MVP race. doncic He’s shooting 47% from the field, a slightly lower level of success than other candidates.

In any other era, those stats would be MVP-worthy, but in today’s NBA, where players stand out in every area, his weaknesses (in this case, success rate) could potentially take him out of contention.

It’s true that less than 20 league games have been played and there are still more than 60 games left, so the battle for the best player could bring about a lot of changes. But after a close start, it is inevitable that the first conversations and debates on the subject will start to emerge. Well, there are only a few days left in the season. There are still many battles left to determine the MVP.