Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the 2025-26 NBA MVP award on Sunday, finishing with 83 first-place votes and 939 voting points in the league’s Nba Mvp Voting. Nikola Jokić was second with 634 points, while Victor Wembanyama took third with 569.
The vote was decided by a global panel of 100 voters, and Gilgeous-Alexander separated himself by a wide margin, beating Jokić by 73 more first-place votes. Luka Dončić finished fourth with 250 points, Cade Cunningham was fifth with 117 and Jaylen Brown was sixth with 89.
The result extends a familiar pattern at the top of the race. Jokić, who won the 2023-24 MVP award, has finished runner-up to Gilgeous-Alexander in the last two campaigns. He has now placed first or second in MVP voting every year since 2020-21, a run that has made him the league’s constant standard even when the trophy goes elsewhere.
Two one-off fifth-place votes also stood out in the final count. Kawhi Leonard and Donovan Mitchell each received one, an unusual split in a ballot that otherwise settled around the top three candidates.
Leonard’s eligibility came through the NBA’s 65-game minimum, and he made the case with a career-high 27.9 points in 65 games while shooting 38.7% from three-point range. The Clippers finished 42-40 and reached the play-in tournament, a reminder that individual numbers and team results do not always move together in MVP consideration.
Mitchell posted 27.9 points, 5.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds, shot a career-best 57.7% inside the perimeter and scored 30 or more points in 34 games. His fifth-place vote underscored how far down the ballot elite seasons can land when the race is shaped by a clear top tier.
The voting release, published Sunday after Gilgeous-Alexander was reported as the winner earlier in the morning, closed the loop on a race that had long pointed his way. The broader question now is not whether the top of the ballot was settled, but how long Jokić can keep turning near-misses into another season in the same rare company.
