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SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – DECEMBER 29: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs warms up prior to the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Frost Bank Center on December 29, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
With just 10 days left of the 2025-26 regular season, San Antonio Spurs<\/a> star Victor Wembanyama<\/a> is among the leaders of the Kia NBA MVP race. However, Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> has emerged as the overwhelming favorite to win back-to-back MVP awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to ESPN\u2019s Tim Bontemps, who released the season\u2019s final MVP straw poll<\/a>, Wembanyama currently lags behind Gilgeous-Alexander in the race.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to ESPN\u2019s third and final NBA<\/a> MVP straw poll of 2025-26, Wemby\u2019s late-season push will fall just short,\u201d Bontemps wrote.<\/p>\n ESPN conducted this latest poll by 100 media members Monday through Wednesday, and Gilgeous-Alexander claimed 88 first-place votes, amassing 958 total points, a commanding 300-point lead over Wembanyama, who had just eight first-place votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Victor Wembanyama\u2019s stance on MVP race\u00a0<\/p>\n Wembanyama\u2019s late-season surge has been remarkable.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 22-year-old, who is averaging 24.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists this season has been key for the Spurs. who have won 16 of their last 17 games.\u00a0The Frenchman has surged in the past month but still sits below the top, albeit through an informal voting process by the media.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Frenchman, however, has made no secret of his belief that he belongs at the front of the conversation \u2014 and perhaps even ahead of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n GettySAN ANTONIO, TEXAS \u2013 MARCH 19: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs. (Photo by Ronald Cortes\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n \u201cI have thought about it. I think right now, there is a debate. There should be, even though I think I should lead the race,\u201d Wembanyama said recently. I\u2019m trying to make sure that at the end of the season, there\u2019s no debate.\u201d<\/p>\n That confidence stems from a lot of things, one of which is the fact that he was taken off the conversation last year mostly because of missing chunks of games. This season has been even better with the Spurs turning into contenders overnight, which has amplified his candidacy.<\/p>\n Wembanyama could become just the second player since Derrick Rose<\/a> in 2011 to capture MVP honors in his third season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gilgeous-Alexander builds an airtight case amid team success<\/p>\n The case for Wembanyama to win this year\u2019s MVP is a strong one, however, Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s case has been such that a back-to-back MVP crown is on the cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 27-year-old superstar is averaging 31.6 points per game on an efficient 55.1% shooting, along with 6.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game this season. The Thunder are the league\u2019s best, having the top record in the West and the NBA in general.<\/p>\n That poll, while not the real deal, shows a clear separation at the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic<\/a> of the Denver Nuggets placed third with three first-place votes, followed by Luka Doncic<\/a> of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> in fourth; Doncic received zero first place votes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither of the two looks to be mounting a serious threat to the top two as things stand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n There are only a handful of games left, but Wembanyama has a final chance for one more push to determine who wins the Michael Jordan<\/a> Trophy.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Spurs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – DECEMBER 29: Victor Wembanyama #1 of the San Antonio Spurs warms up prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3797],"tags":[7,6,969,474,4075,4074,534],"class_list":{"0":"post-696390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio-spurs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","12":"tag-sanantonio","13":"tag-sanantoniospurs","14":"tag-spurs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116342324651936971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775242887_602_GettyImages-2266947932.jpg\")
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