With the NBA 2025-26 season just around the corner, fans and analysts alike are beginning to guess how the season will play out. At the top of all predictions and debates are speculations about the two most coveted achievements a player can receive: the NBA MVP award and a championship ring. 

Predicting which team will take it all this year is a difficult task, especially in recent times. Barring the Oklahoma City Thunder, every championship team since 2020 has failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs the following year. The MVP however tends to follow certain trends. Notably, Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets has won the award three out of the last five MVPs. However, while he was a serious contender for last year's award, Jokić fell short in votes to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Thunder. The 2024-25 MVP race indicated a growing emphasis on the importance of statistics and winning percentages. As such, there are more than a few candidates for MVP this year.

Injured Players:

Unfortunately, there are names that would’ve been serious contenders this year if not for injuries or other factors that have removed them from the season. Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid both fall into this category. Tatum of the Boston Celtics suffered a torn Achilles during a playoff game against the New York Knicks which will probably keep him from returning for most of, if not all of next season. Tatum has put up increasingly impressive numbers during his time in the league, yet his MVP-caliber season has remained just out of reach. If his productivity continues once he comes back, we should anticipate at least one more championship team led by him. 

The Philadelphia 76ers’ star Joel Embiid has already had a career riddled with injuries, as well as a previous MVP season. Embiid’s craft and precision on the court is well-known, and he is often called one of the most skilled centers of all time, but questions have arisen about hisability to stay healthy. Last year he dealt with a continued issue with his knees removing him from most games and although he is projected to start this October, skepticism of his consistency remains. 

Wild Cards:

Now there are younger options who could have explosive growth and surprise everyone with a meteoric rise. For example, Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama are potential rising stars. Known for his strong candor on and off the court, Edwards has already shown impressive growth in his career. Already a strong slasher, he made noticeable strides in 3-point shooting last season, going from 35.7% on 6.7 attempts in the 23-24 season to 39.5% on 10.3 attempts. If he has developed more of his defense or passing this offseason to the same degree as his 3-point shooting, he could absolutely have a shot at MVP.

The San Antonio Spurs’ standout rookie Wembanyama is a bit of an enigma. He is touted as one of the greatest prospects of all time and his numbers support it. The young Frenchman standing at 7 feet 3 inches, had one of the greatest rookie seasons ever, averaging 21 points, 10 rebounds and a whopping 3.6 blocks per game. Last season saw a small jump with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 3.8 blocks, a great two way performance, but unfortunately his season was cut short due to injury. With Wembanyama it’s not a question of if he will win MVP, but rather when it will happen. Next season still seems too early in his career, but his off-season journey has certainly been entertaining to watch. He has studied chess in France, meditated with Shaolin monks and trained with seasoned NBA veterans including Jamal Crawford, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon. The Wembanyama of next season could be entirely different than the Wembanyama of last.

Second Place:

Next are the runner-ups — the players who are always in the conversation but haven’t been able to beat Jokić or Gilgeous-Alexander: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Doncic. Antetokounmpo has already had two MVPs with his time on the Milwaukee Bucks, and they were great seasons, but since then he has had multiple years where he has surpassed those numbers in every category. This begs the question, what is keeping him from winning another Michael Jordan Trophy? Unfortunately, the motives of the MVP voters are unknown, but Antetokounmpo’s numbers are still as impressive as ever. It could only take a small push to get another high caliber season.

Doncic has had lots of press coverage as of late, being a part of one of the biggest trades in NBA history last January. Doncicć is known as an all around great offensive player and he has already had MVP-caliber seasons. His 23-24 statline is one of the most impressive point guard seasons of all time, averaging almost a 34 point triple double and taking his fifth seeded Dallas Mavericks to the playoffs. It’s also the highest average points-per-game season if you take away points made from free throws since the NBA merger in 1976. However, his numbers have taken a significant dip since his injury and subsequent trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, only averaging 28 points, 8.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists. While these are still incredible stats, they do pale in comparison to his previous numbers. With Doncicć, one must simply hope we see a return to form sooner rather than later.

First Place:

Then, of course, there are the obvious candidates: Jokić and the previous MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander. Gilgeous-Alexander had a groundbreaking season, averaging 33 points and leading the Thunder to their first title in franchise history. A big part of his MVP ticket was his team's success in the regular season, finishing with a record of 68 wins and 14 losses as the first seed in the West. Gilgeous-Alexander is a generational offensive talent and the Thunder is a team composed of solid young role players still in the beginning of their careers, so a significant amount of success is expected of them this year. 

Jokić has been at the top of the MVP ladder for five years now, an unseen level of dominance in the modern era with the only exception being LeBron James. Jokicć is easily the best and most likely option for MVP and the only things getting in the way are off the court factors. First off, he just doesn’t care. This wouldn’t be a problem seeing as his off the court comments don’t seem to affect his impressive numbers at all, but it does influence the voters’ perception of him. 

At the end of the day, what really matters is what the voters think and if they have a negative opinion of Jokicć then they won’t want to give him his flowers. He has also already won the award three times and questions have arisen of voter fatigue. Are people just bored of seeing Jokicćhave the top spot again and again? In my opinion, he is always an entertaining player to watch, and he has an overall good effect on basketball. He has changed the idea of what a center can do on an NBA court and that’s why he is my pick for MVP next year. 

— Editor's Note: Due to software constraints, Luka Doncic is missing accents over both the  c's , and Nikola Jokic is missing an accent over the c.