OKLAHOMA CITY — The NBA announced on Sunday night that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic and Victor Wembanyama are the three finalists for the 2025-26 Most Valuable Player award. The league revealed finalists for seven individual awards and will begin announcing winners on Monday.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP, led the Oklahoma City Thunder to 64 regular-season wins and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the 2026 playoffs. The point guard played 68 games and averaged 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.

If Gilgeous-Alexander captures the award again, he will become the 16th player in NBA history to win multiple MVP honors. He was the top vote-getter in Tim Bontemps's final MVP straw poll and awards ballot at the end of the regular season.

Jokic, a three-time MVP and center for the Denver Nuggets, played 65 games and averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game. He led the league in both rebounds and assists per game, becoming the first player to lead the NBA in both categories in the same season. He also averaged a triple-double for a second consecutive season.

Wembanyama, a forward for the San Antonio Spurs, played 64 games and averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. He is the first player since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000 to average at least 25 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per game in a season.

On Bontemps's ballot, the top five selections in order were Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Wembanyama, Luka Doncic and Cade Cunningham. The MVP award has been won by an international player for eight consecutive years through 2026. All three finalists — Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Wembanyama — were born outside the United States, as Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, Jokic is Serbian and Wembanyama is French.