Insider Voting Projects NBA MVP for 2026
A gang of NBA insiders from ESPN have gotten together and done an early pre-season vote on who they feel will be the major award winners for the coming NBA season. And to no one's surprise, three-time MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets is projected to win his 4th MVP.
The MVP balloting came in as follows:
- Nikola Jokic, 83 points
- Luka Doncic, 62 points
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 46 points
With three MVPs already under his belt, voters were loath to give yet another last spring, despite arguably his best season yet: Averaging a triple-double for the first time in his already-illustrious career, and setting a career high with 29.6 points per game. He finished second in the voting for 2024-25 behind Gilgeous-Alexander, which not many could argue with, as SGA won the scoring title at 32.7 points per game, and then led the OKC Thunder to the NBA title.
As the ESPN crew put it about their new results, "Either voter fatigue wears off quickly, or (this summer's) voters were very impressed by Nikola Jokic's head-to-head battle with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the second round of the 2025 playoffs. The three-time MVP came in as a heavy favorite to win for a fourth time in our preseason survey, almost doubling the votes for SGA to repeat."
Doncic's offseason transformation into a lean, mean, fit machine elevated his chances, to finish ahead of SGA in 2nd.
Other voting results for major awards ahead of the 2025-26 season included:
Defensive Player of the Year
- Victor Wembanyama, 95 points
- Evan Mobley, 31 points
- Chat Holmgren, 20 points
This one was a runaway, with 'The Alien' being disclosed as the early overwhelming favorite.
Wemby would have won this award last season, except for the new 65-game threshold for eligibility for major awards. He was shut down in February with a blood clot in his shoulder.
Rookie of the Year
- Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks, 121 points
- Dylan Harper, San Antonio Spurs, 38 points
- VJ Edgecombe, Philadelphia, Philadelphia 76ers, 21 points
No surprises here, needless to say. Flagg is seen as a generational player, and the Mavs won the lottery, only three months after giving up on their previous generational player, Luka Doncic.
Photo: © Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
