On Tuesday, sportscaster and NBA MVP voter Rachel Nichols explained during a chat with Chris Mannix on Sports Illustrated’s Open Floor podcast why she won’t be giving Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Dončić a first-place vote.

“Is he the top contender for MVP right now? No, he is not. Is the reason because you do have to play both sides of the ball for all eight months of the season? Yes, it is.

“I mean, he has definitely been improving. I am the loudest voice that Luka is not the defensive liability that people think he is. Once he gets to the playoffs, he cares differently. He plays differently, and it is a full-season award, and it is for both sides of the ball.

“So am I going to vote him my No. 1 for MVP? No. Is he going to be on my ballot? Absolutely.”

Dončić is enjoying a great season, averaging an NBA-high 33.7 points per game alongside 8.2 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals for a third-place team looking for its 50th win of the 2025-26 campaign on Tuesday.

However, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander appears to be the clear favorite to win back-to-back MVP awards, and his greatest competition is San Antonio Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama.

Dončić is an unbelievably gifted offensive player, and one can argue no one in the NBA is better than him at that end of the floor. As Nichols noted, he’s not exactly known for his defensive efforts.

That being said, Dončić has certainly been getting some credit lately for his work on that end.

Gilgeous-Alexander has a leg up on the competition by being the best player on the league’s best team (60-16) and averaging 31.6 points on 55.3 percent shooting, 6.5 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game. He’s also second in player efficiency rating (31.1) behind only Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić.

One can argue the Thunder have a better team around Gilgeous-Alexander than the Lakers do around Dončić. OKC is 8-4 without Gilgeous-Alexander this year, while Los Angeles is 7-6 without Dončić. By the definition of “most valuable,” Dončić can make a case that he probably means more to the Lakers’ success than SGA means to OKC’s, although they both obviously mean a lot to their respective squads. Gilgeous-Alexander, after all, just led OKC to an NBA title last year.

We’ll see how the MVP vote shakes out down the road, but in the meantime, there are still a few regular season weeks remaining for voters to consider before they make their award picks.