While surveys involving 20 respondents are hardly conclusive, the fact that ESPN conducted it lends weight to the findings.
According to the results, the query for who the best player in the league is overwhelmingly points to Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, who garnered 19 of the 20 votes.
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While the selection of the Serbian big man as the league’s best player and odds-on favorite to win the Most Valuable Player trophy isn’t surprising, what ESPN pundit Tim MacMahon found intriguing was how the reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, did not even get any consideration, as the other vote went to Los Angeles Lakers stud Luka Doncic.
SGA had a dominant run last season
SGA had one of the most dominant runs in NBA history. Not only did he win the regular season MVP plum on the strength of his averages of a league-leading 32.7 points on 51.9 percent shooting, 5.0 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.0 blocks per game to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to an impressive 68-14 record, but he also delivered in the postseason, leading his team to its first NBA title.
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However, apparently, all these achievements were lost on the respondents of the ESPN survey, who somehow forgot he existed.
“That’s what surprised me,” MacMahon shared on “The Hoop Collective.” “Not 19 to 1, but that the one wasn’t Shai, given, like, dude, Shai just had a quadruple crown of a season.”
“He just had arguably one of the greatest seasons in the modern era,” the show’s co-host Brian Windhorst chimed in.
Truth be told, SGA authored the most memorable campaign this decade, winning nearly every individual award outside of the Defensive Player of the Year award (he finished 10th there, by the way).
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“Scoring champ, MVP, conference finals MVP, finals MVP. And then, like you punch his stats up there, I can give you him and Jordan,” MacMahon quipped.
Windy, though, exclaimed that opponents must be wary of the results of this survey being used as bulletin board material for a Thunder team that is looking to repeat as champs.
“Well, you know those defending champions, they always need something,” Windhorst remarked. “I could see Sam Presti having this laminated on a giant board to play.”
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The Joker isn’t playing around
ESPN senior NBA writer Tim Bontemps, however, reported that his conversations with people in and around the league have led him to believe that, despite SGA making his mark last season, many still consider the Serbian big man the true king of the league.
“If you ask pretty much anybody around the NBA or around the sport at the moment who is the best player in basketball, they all pretty much say after a moment or less, ‘Yeah, Jokic is the best player,'” Bontemps expressed.
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It’s a sentiment an Eastern Conference team executive shared with ESPN, claiming that for as long as Jokic is playing in the league, that mythical title is his and his alone.
“As long as he’s walking and breathing, it should be him,” the unnamed executive declared.
SGA has a legit claim to being the best in the NBA, especially after his unforgettable run last season, where he seemed unstoppable at times. However, the Joker is just on another level entirely.
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With three MVP wins and two runner-up finishes in the last five years, he has set the standard of excellence far too high for anyone else to touch.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 25, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.