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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the NBA Regular Season and Finals MVP awards last year en route to his first championship.
With Gilgeous-Alexander having another strong season that has him back in the MVP discussions for 2025-26, Victor Wembanyama believes there should be a clear favorite for the award.
Wembanyama scored 26 points in Monday’s win over the Miami Heat, helping the Spurs clinch a division title and end a six-season playoff drought, then declaring he would silence any MVP debate.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year said. “I think right now there’s a debate. There should be, although I think I should be leading the race. I’m trying to make sure that at the end of the season there’s no debate.”
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San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) drives to the basket against the Miami Heat during the second quarter at Kaseya Center on October 15, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Sam Navarro/Imagn Images)
Wembanyama enters Wednesday’s game with the Memphis Grizzlies averaging 24.3 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots per game.
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While these numbers help strengthen Wembanyama’s MVP case, others can do so as well. Besides Gilgeous-Alexander, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer, is also considered a top candidate.
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dribbles the ball during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California on March 17, 2026. (Sergio Estrada/Imagn Images)
Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić, already a three-time MVP, currently has a better chance of winning the award this year, with Wembanyama in third, according to data compiled by ESPN. New NBA rules require a minimum of 65 games played for a player to be eligible for the MVP award.
Wembanyama also presented a three-part case to support his MVP bid.
“My first would be that defense is 50% of the game and it’s undervalued so far in the MVP race. I believe I’m the most defensively efficient player in the league,” Wembanyama said. “The second argument would be that we almost swept OKC this season and outscored them three times with their real team. … The third argument would be that offensive impact is about more than just points.”
San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama, center, celebrates with teammates after hitting a game-winning shot against the Phoenix Suns in the final seconds of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Texas, March 19, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson expressed his strong support for Wembanyama’s MVP campaign, emphasizing the impact he sees behind the scenes every day.
“I think he’s close,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “All the guys you named are deserving; a few of them already have this award. And I’m very biased. I get to see one of these guys every night. I get to see him on the practice field. I get to see what he’s doing in the morning. I get to see what he’s doing right now, after the game. So, I understand that my opinion and my point of view and my perspective is a lot different than almost everyone else’s.”
San Antonio enters Wednesday with 54 wins and will head into the playoffs tied with the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
