Last season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first former Kentucky Wildcat to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar is on pace to win another.
As the 2025-26 regular season begins to wind down, the award races are only ramping up. In ESPN’s latest MVP straw poll, which was released Friday after 100 media members were polled earlier this week, there is a clear-cut favorite to take home this year’s top individual honor — and that would be Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA received 88 of the 100 first-place votes in the straw poll. He was one of only two players to have their name listed by all 100 media members, along with San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama. Gilgeous-Alexander also received nine second-place votes and three third-place votes, landing him 958 total points. Wembanyama came in a distant second with 644 points.
Below is how the media members voted. They were asked to rank their top five MVP candidates. Only 10 players received votes, including another one-time Wildcat in Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, who was one of three players to pick up a single fifth-place vote.
Screenshot via ESPN
If Gilgeous-Alexander were to win a second MVP award, he’d become just the 18th player in NBA history with multiple, and the 16th player to win it in back-to-back seasons. After reaching the 65-game minimum requirement to win these awards on Thursday night, he’s also considered the betting favorite to win MVP. There are only 10 days remaining in the regular season.
There are certainly MBP arguments to be made for guys like Wembanyama (the top defender in the league and an offensive alien), Nikola Jokic (averaging a triple-double while leading the league in assists and rebounds), and Luka Doncic (who scored over 600 points in March for the first time since Michael Jordan did it in 1987). But SGA’s consistency on both ends of the floor this season, all while leading the defending champion Thunder to the league’s best record of 61-16, once again has him in line to win another MVP.
Through 65 games played, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.6 points, 6.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 33.5 minutes per outing while shooting a career-high 55.1 percent from the field, 38 percent from deep, and 88.1 percent from the free throw line. The 6-foot-6 floor general is also shooting just a hair over 60 percent on two-pointers, easily a career-best. He’s awesome.