The NBA has officially narrowed down the field for the league’s most prestigious individual honor. On Saturday morning, the NBA PR account on X confirmed that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić, and Victor Wembanyama are the final three nominees for the 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
The league also announced a swift turnaround for the reveal, confirming that the winner will be crowned by NBA on Prime on Sunday, May 17 at 7:30 PM ET.
A Historic Three-Horse Race
Each of the three finalists carries a monumental narrative into Sunday night’s announcement, representing three completely different eras of basketball dominance:
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder): The reigning MVP is looking to go back-to-back. SGA has put together another utterly clinical two-way season, anchoring a powerhouse Thunder squad that is currently attempting to secure consecutive NBA championships.
- Nikola Jokić (Denver Nuggets): The Serbian maestro is chasing history. Already considered one of the greatest centers to ever lace them up, “The Joker” remained an efficiency gold standard throughout the year as he hunts for a legendary fourth career MVP trophy.
- Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs): “The Alien” has officially broken the timeline. Fresh off capturing the 2025-26 Defensive Player of the Year award in a unanimous vote, the 7-foot-4 phenom has parlayed an explosive sophomore campaign into a genuine MVP nomination while carrying San Antonio deep into the postseason.
The Western Conference Finals Proxy War
While the MVP trophy will be handed out on Sunday, the ultimate bragging rights will be settled on the hardwood starting Monday night.
The MVP announcement adds a layer of absolute theater to the upcoming Western Conference Finals matchup between Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder and Wembanyama’s Spurs. San Antonio punched their ticket to the WCF in spectacular fashion on Friday night, utterly humiliating the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 139-109 Game 6 bludgeoning.
With the individual awards settled this weekend, the real war begins Monday at 5:30 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock, when OKC hosts San Antonio for Game 1. It’s the reigning MVP against the league’s fastest-rising superstar—and the basketball world is about to reap the rewards.
