2025 NBA MVP: Who will win between Jokic and SGA?

The NBA playoffs acceptable up the biggest signifier for the league's stars to marque their mark. Nowhere is this much wide this play than with the apical 2 MVP candidates, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, squaring disconnected successful the Western Conference's 2nd round.

The brace person been battling it retired successful the MVP contention each season, truthful it would lone marque consciousness that their teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, would tally into each different portion chasing the NBA's eventual goal, the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Despite the fanfare astir the matchup, the MVP is simply a regular-season award, and some players recorded memorable seasons successful their own, unsocial ways.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the 68-win Thunder to the West's apical effect portion averaging a league-leading 32.7 points per crippled portion adding 5.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per crippled connected 51.9% shooting. Oklahoma City finished 16 games up of the No. 2 effect Houston Rockets successful the regular play successful 1 of the astir awesome runs successful caller memory.

Meanwhile, Jokic was putting unneurotic arguably his champion statistical play portion guiding the Nuggets to the No. 4 effect successful the West. He averaged a triple-double this season, finishing the regular play with averages of 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists. If helium were to triumph the award, it would beryllium his 4th MVP successful 5 seasons and helium would go 1 of conscionable 5 players successful NBA past to assertion MVP honors 4 times.

Milwaukee Bucks prima Giannis Antetokounmpo rounds retired the MVP finalists aft averaging 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists this season.

NBA newsman Tim Bontemps' last MVP straw canvass and awards ballot uncover that portion it's a choky race, Gilgeous-Alexander held a flimsy pb astatine the extremity of the regular season.

2025 NBA MVP finalists

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Point defender | Oklahoma City Thunder

76 games | 32. 7 PPG | 5 RPG | 6.4 APG

Nikola Jokic | Center | Denver Nuggets

70 games | 29. 6 PPG | 12.7 RPG | 10.2 APG

Giannis Antetokounmpo | Forward | Milwaukee Bucks

67 games | 30.4 PPG | 11.9 RPG | 6.5 APG

Tim Bontemps' MVP picks

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

2. Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets

3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

4. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics

5. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Just astir each season, determination are respective deserving MVP candidates. And this year's contention genuinely went down to the last time betwixt Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, the league's 2 champion players, some of whom person enactment unneurotic unbelievable seasons.

The Thunder, down Gilgeous-Alexander's league-leading 32.7 points per crippled portion shooting 51.9% from the field, became the seventh squad successful NBA past to triumph astatine slightest 68 games. Jokic, of course, had a historical statistical season, finishing successful the apical 3 successful points (29.6), rebounds (12.7) and assists (10.2) portion shooting 57.6% wide and 41.7% from 3-point range. Truly video crippled stuff.

While going backmost and distant betwixt Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic implicit the past respective weeks, this punctuation from since-fired Nuggets manager Michael Malone has been weighing connected my mind. "If you didn't cognize Nikola had won 3 MVPs, and I enactment Player A and Player B connected insubstantial ... helium wins 10 times retired of 10," Malone said past month.

"And if you don't deliberation so, you guys are afloat of s---."

Read much connected Tim Bontemps' picks for the NBA's apical idiosyncratic awards.

NBA MVP Straw Poll 3.0

In mid-February, the 2nd of ESPN's 3 NBA astir invaluable subordinate straw polls showed Oklahoma City Thunder defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with a comfy -- if not ironclad -- pb implicit Denver Nuggets halfway Nikola Jokic.

Six weeks later, the contention is virtually unchanged.

If the results from our last straw canvass are close -- for each of the past 5 seasons, they person been -- Gilgeous-Alexander volition assertion his archetypal MVP award. And successful a canvass that mirrors the league's authoritative voting and was conducted implicit a 24-hour play Sunday and Monday, Gilgeous-Alexander claimed 77 of 100 first-place votes.

He finished 2nd connected the remaining 23 ballots for 931 full points, portion Jokic finished with 769. After the 2 stars received each but 1 of the first- and second-place votes successful the 2nd circular of polling backmost successful February, this variation was a cleanable expanse -- thing that hadn't happened crossed the 19 erstwhile straw polls conducted since the commencement of the 2016-17 season.

That dominance atop the ballot goes manus successful manus with what some players person shown connected the court.

Despite Gilgeous-Alexander's lead, Jokic is presenting possibly his champion MVP case.

Read much from Tim Bontemps connected the NBA MVP Straw Poll 3.0.