NBA MVP: Nikola Jokic Snub Sheds Light On Criteria

For decades, a debate has raged about what the NBA MVP means or stands for. Is it the award for the league’s best player, or the player who had the best statistical season? Is it an award for the player who means the most to his team? Is it an award for the best player on the best team? By snubbing Nikola Jokic and giving the 2026 accolade to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league has answered those questions.

There are a number of outside factors that need to be considered as well. Voter fatigue is real, and it’s the reason that Michael Jordan did not win the award in 1993 or 1998. That is not the reason for giving Jokic the shaft, though, because this is the second consecutive season that SGA has brought home the hardware. It’s come down to team achievements and individual statistics, with a greater focus on the former.

Nikola Jokic Was The Best Player In The NBA

Nobody is saying that Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t have a great season. By all accounts, he had a fantastic season, just not the best season of all players in the league. His 31.1 points per game were the second-best scoring output in the league, trailing just Luka Doncic (33.5). Jokic, on the other hand, averaged 27.7 points (eighth in the league), 12.9 rebounds (First), and 10.7 assists per game (First). It is the second consecutive season he has averaged a triple-double, and the second consecutive season he has not won the MVP.

Only three players in history have ever achieved this feat (SGA is not one of them), and only two of those players have done it twice (Jokic and Russell Westbrook, who did it four times). Jokic also featured a better field goal percentage than Gilgeous-Alexander and played more minutes per game. There is no credible argument that can be made for the Thunder guard having the best season in 2025-26.

Nikola Jokic Was More Valuable To His Team

NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

The argument that could be made for Gilgeous-Alexander being more valuable to his team would be their winning percentage without him. The Thunder had a .571 winning percentage without their star (8-6), as opposed to the Denver Nuggets, who finished 11-6 without their center (.647). A deeper dive would need to be made into the teams’ opponents during those losses, but the reality is, both teams lost six games.

Looking at the players’ individual stats compared to the team stats, there is no doubt who was carrying their franchise. SGA accounted for 26.1 percent of his team’s 119 points per game, while Jokic accounted for 22.7 percent of the Nuggets’ 122 points per game. Rebounds and assists blow this argument out of the water. While Gilgeous-Alexander accounted for 9.8 percent of hbis teams rebounds and 25.6 percent of their assists, Jokic recorded 29.3 percent of the Nuggets’ rebounds and 36.9 percent of their assists.

NBA MVP Goes To The Best Player On The Best Team

The Thunder had the best record in the NBA this season (64-18), and their best player was SGA. It doesn’t get simpler than that. Regardless of what his season averages were, he was the best player on the league’s best team. The same situation as last year, when they went 68-14, and their star player took home the NBA MVP because he was their best player.

This has not always been the precedent, though. Nikola Jokic was the NBA MVP in the 2023-24 season, despite the Nuggets having a 57-25 record. This was the best record in the West, but the Boston Celtics were 64-18. Shouldn’t Jayson Tatum have been the league MVP? He was Boston’s best player that season, averaging 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game. He finished sixth in the voting. SIXTH!

When Joel Embiid won the award for the 2022-23 season, the Philadelphia 76ers weren’t even the best team in the East, let alone the NBA. The Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks finished ahead of them, and the Bucks in particular had the best record in the league (58-24). Their best player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, averaged 31.1 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. He finished third in MVP voting.

Maybe there is no rhyme or reason to who they pick. Sometimes it’s the league’s best player; sometimes it’s the best player on the best team. It’s clear the Associated Press just rolls out a dartboard every year with the finalists’ faces on it, and each takes a turn with a blindfolded throw. Whoever they hit, they vote for. Based on the historic winners of the MVP, this is the only logical reasoning that exists.