Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won 2026 NBA MVP award over Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and Luka Doncic originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
At this point, it's no exaggeration to say Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is in the middle of one of the most dominant individual runs the NBA has ever seen.
On Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder star officially secured his second-straight MVP award, becoming just the 14th player to win the honor in consecutive years and the 16th player to win multiple MVPs in their career.
The 2025-26 MVP race was tight all season — between Nikola Jokic's continued all-around showcases, Victor Wembanyama fully emerging on a title contender and Luka Doncic leading the Lakers to success, there were plenty of true contenders. But in the end, it was the steadiness of Gilgeous-Alexander that led him to another MVP.
Here's why Gilgeous-Alexander took home the 2025-26 MVP award.
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Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won NBA MVP award
The Thunder have remained so dominant over the past two seasons that their success felt almost guaranteed this season. Coming in as the defending champions with one of the deepest and well-coached rosters the NBA has ever seen, Oklahoma City was expected to coast toward the playoffs. But that's also just a testament to the Hall of Fame level-play that Gilgeous-Alexander has hit.
He has become a guaranteed nightly 20 points — quite literally, breaking Wilt Chamberlain's streak for 20-point games during this past season — while constantly facing opposing teams' best perimeter defenders and running the Thunder offense. While much as been made by fans about Gilgeous-Alexander's common trips to the free-throw line, that's part of what comes with being an all-time great scorer; James Harden, Joel Embiid and Kobe Bryant are some more players who once faced fan criticism for living at the stripe due to their scoring talents.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 31.1 points per game, the second-highest total to Doncic across the NBA, while leading the Thunder to 64 wins that almost felt pedestrian. He was also absurdly efficient, shooting 55.3% from the floor — a mark that would typically be representative of a big man who shoots around the rim.
Gilgeous-Alexander's greatness has become standardized enough that he may not have gotten the kind of MVP buzz that non-previous winners like Doncic or Wembanyama got, yet his consistent offensive genius on the league's best team created an argument to difficult to ignore for voters.
Being the best player on the best team in the league is often a simple MVP case, and that was again Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025-26. No matter how you spin it, his run from 2024-26 can now be cemented as one of the best individual runs by a guard in NBA history.
Thunder MVP winners
Year
Player
2014
Kevin Durant
2017
Russell Westbrook
2025
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2026
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Gilgeous-Alexander remains just the third player to win an MVP award for the Thunder, but he's now the first to win multiple. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each won one MVP.
Additionally, Gilgeous-Alexander becomes just the 16th player to win multiple MVP awards, a list that most recently added Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander stats vs. Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Luka Doncic
While Gilgeous-Alexander came out on top of MVP voting, this season's race was packed with elite players, even with the challenge of the 65-game rule.
Jokic became the first player in NBA history to ever lead the league in rebounds and assists per game, regardless of season, and he did them both in the same campaign while averaging a triple-double. Perhaps voter fatigue played a role, but in most years, Jokic's numbers would've been too difficult to ignore for another MVP award.
Wembanyama, meanwhile, stayed healthy for most of the season to lead the Spurs to a breakout 62-win season, averaging 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and a league-leading 3.1 blocks per game to earn unanimous Defensive Player of the Year honors. While Wembanyama is expected to be an MVP candidate for years to come, 2025-26 was the first full display of his unreal talents over a full season.
Then, there was Doncic in his first full year as a Laker; the star guard looked rejuvenated after getting an offseason to digest his time in L.A., leading the NBA in scoring with 33.5 points per game while adding 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game. Had he stayed healthy, Doncic may have had an argument — but he had to apply for an exception to the 65-game rule following what became a season-ending injury in April.
Here's a full look at the side-by-side numbers for each MVP candidate:
Player
Games
MPG
PPG
RPG
APG
SPG
BPG
FG%
3PT%
FT%
Team Wins
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
68
33.2
31.1
4.3
6.6
1.4
0.8
55.3%
38.6%
87.9%
64*
Nikola Jokic
65
34.8
27.7
12.9*
10.7*
1.4
0.8
56.9%
38.0%
83.1%
54
Victor Wembanyama
64
29.2
25.0
11.5
3.1
1.0
3.1*
51.2%
34.9%
82.7%
62
Luka Doncic
64
35.8
33.5*
7.7
8.3
1.6
0.5
47.6%
36.6%
78.0%
53
*Led NBA
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