Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander beat out Denver Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic in ESPN's first MVP straw poll of the 2025-26 campaign. While Gilgeous-Alexander has earned comparisons to Michael Jordan this season, he's led the Thunder to a historic 25-2 record as defending champions. Still, Jokic isn't far behind in ESPN's poll.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander still beat out Jokic with a plus-15 in first-place votes, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps.
“For the third straight time, Gilgeous-Alexander (57 first-place votes, 865 total points) holds a clear but narrow lead over Jokic (42 first-place votes, 822 total points) and 13 other stars who received at least one vote in the poll conducted Monday and Tuesday,” MacMahon reported.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's potential 70+ win season could give him the slight edge over Jokic for what would be back-to-back MVP awards for SGA.
“With our early snapshot of the MVP race predicting another razor-thin margin between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, the Thunder's chase for 70 wins [and beyond] could be the determining factor,” MacMahon added.
Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic, Detroit Pistons All-Star Cade Cunningham, and New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson rounded out the top 5 in votes. Doncic is the only player out of the three to receive one 1st place vote for MVP, while leading the pack with 74 third-place votes.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander embraces Thunder-Spurs rivalry
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Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) brings the ball up court against the San Antonio Spurs during the first quarter at T-Mobile Arena
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic — winners of the last two MVP awards — have created a bit of a rivalry as both finished runner-up to one another in back-to-back seasons. At the same time, Gilgeous-Alexander is embracing a Thunder-Spurs rivalry, taking on all challenges.
A reporter asked Gilgeous-Alexander if the Spurs could become one of the Thunder's biggest rivals in the upcoming years.
“Possibly, yeah — there’s a good chance,” Gilgeous-Alexander replied. “They’re young — really good — have a lot of talent, play the right way. They play a good brand of basketball. But, yeah, definitely, there’s a possibility. I’ve noticed that anything can happen in a couple of years. So, yeah, there’s definitely a possibility. It’s not 100 percent. But definitely a possibility for sure.”
The Thunder defeated the Clippers 101-122 to improve to 25-2 and will face the Timberwolves on Friday.