The NBA playoffs present the perfect stage for the league’s stars to make their mark. The current season is particularly highlighted by the rivalry between the two main MVP candidates, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, who face each other in the second round of the Western Conference.
Both players have starred in an intense battle for the MVP throughout the regular season, so it was logical that their teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets, would cross paths in their quest for the NBA’s highest honor, the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Despite the expectation generated by this matchup, the MVP is a regular season award, and both players have had memorable seasons in their own way.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder, who achieved 68 victories, to the top spot in the West, averaging 32.7 points per game, the most in the league, in addition to 5.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game, with 51.9% shooting efficiency. Oklahoma City finished 16 games ahead of the second-placed Houston Rockets, in one of the most impressive performances in recent times.
Meanwhile, Jokic was having perhaps his best statistical season, guiding the Nuggets to fourth place in the West. He averaged a triple-double this season, finishing the regular season with averages of 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, and 10.2 assists. If he were to win the award, it would be his fourth MVP in five seasons, and he would become one of five players in NBA history to obtain the MVP award four times.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, star of the Milwaukee Bucks, completes the list of MVP finalists, after averaging 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists this season.
The final MVP voting and awards ballot reveal that, although the competition was close, Gilgeous-Alexander maintained a slight lead at the end of the regular season.
Finalists for the NBA MVP 2025
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Point Guard | Oklahoma City Thunder
- Nikola Jokic | Center | Denver Nuggets
- Giannis Antetokounmpo | Forward | Milwaukee Bucks
Each season, there are several deserving MVP candidates. This year’s race was decided on the last day between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, the two best players in the league, both with incredible seasons.
The Thunder, powered by Gilgeous-Alexander’s 32.7 points per game, the most in the league, with a 51.9% field goal percentage, became the seventh team in NBA history to win at least 68 games. Jokic, of course, had a historic statistical season, finishing in the top three in points (29.6), rebounds (12.7), and assists (10.2), with 57.6% overall efficiency and 41.7% from the 3-point line. Video game numbers.
Amidst the discussion between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic over the past few weeks, this quote from the now-fired Nuggets coach Michael Malone has been resonating in my mind: “If you didn’t know Nikola has won three MVPs, and you put Player A and Player B in a role… he wins 10 out of 10 times,” Malone said last month.
“And if you don’t believe it, they’re full of shit.”
The NBA MVP 3.0 Survey
In mid-February, the second of three surveys on the NBA’s Most Valuable Player showed Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with a comfortable, though not insurmountable, lead over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.
Six weeks later, the race is practically the same.
If the results of our final poll are accurate, as they have been in each of the last five seasons, Gilgeous-Alexander will claim his first MVP award. And in a poll that reflects the league’s official voting and was conducted over a 24-hour period on Sunday and Monday, Gilgeous-Alexander received 77 of the 100 first-place votes.
He finished second in the remaining 23 ballots with a total of 931 points, while Jokic finished with 769. After the two stars received all but one of the votes for first and second place in the second round of voting in February, this edition was a clean sweep, something that had not happened in the previous 19 polls conducted since the start of the 2016-17 season.
That domain at the top of the ballot goes hand in hand with what both players have shown on the court.
Despite Gilgeous-Alexander’s advantage, Jokic is presenting perhaps his best case for the MVP.
