Tim BontempsFeb 20, 2026, 07:00 AM ET
- Tim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what's impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.
Despite all the drama surrounding NBA star injuries and availability this season, it hasn't changed the top of the Most Valuable Player race.
For now.
In ESPN's second MVP straw poll of the 2025-26 season -- a current snapshot of the race using a panel of 100 local, national and international media members surveyed this week -- Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander increased his lead over Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic. Gilgeous-Alexander claimed 78 first-place votes and was the only player named to all 100 ballots.
The reigning MVP, who also secured 20 second-place and two third-place votes, is in the midst of another stellar season, averaging 31.8 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 55.4% from the field for the Western Conference-leading Thunder.
SGA's lead has grown despite the defending champions slipping since our first straw poll was released in mid-December. The Thunder once were on pace to win 70-plus games, but injuries have brought them back to earth; they have gone 17-13 after a blistering 24-1 start to the season. That has included a recent abdominal injury to Gilgeous-Alexander, who has already missed seven games and will miss at least a few more after the team announced Thursday he'll be re-evaluated in a week.
Such a dip in form would've opened the door for Gilgeous-Alexander's top competition, but in what has been a theme of this season, injuries have dramatically changed the awards landscape.
Jokic kept his second-place spot (18 first-place votes), but the bone bruise he suffered in late December that knocked him out for nearly a month has clearly stalled his MVP candidacy.
It certainly doesn't mean Jokic has no chance of winning. His stat line -- 28.7 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game while shooting 59% overall, 42% from 3 and 84% from the free throw line -- certainly helps, though his margin for error has shrunk. If Jokic misses two more games, he will be ineligible for MVP and all end-of-season awards. That would end a streak of five consecutive top-two finishes in MVP voting, one short of Boston Celtics legends Bill Russell and Larry Bird for the most all time.
Jokic has plenty of company in the 65-game watch. San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama jumped from eighth in December's poll to fourth with three first-place votes and landed on 75 ballots. But Wembanyama has missed 13 games (he actually has missed 14 but gets credit for the NBA Cup title game), meaning he can miss only four the rest of the season.
But in his third season, the French phenom has again been tremendous, averaging 24.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and a league-leading 2.7 blocks per game. If he remains healthy, and if San Antonio can make up the three games it currently sits behind OKC for first in the West, Wembanyama could replicate the 2022-23 race, when Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid's late charge won him the MVP over Jokic.
Meanwhile, the fifth-place finisher in the poll, Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, has already missed 12 games. Two other vote-getters -- LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (13 missed games) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (10 missed games) -- could see their eligibility put in peril with another injury. And that doesn't count either Giannis Antetokounmpo or LeBron James, who have each already fallen below the 65-game requirement. (Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry didn't receive any straw poll votes and is two missed games away from not being award eligible.)
But all the injuries at the top have created opportunities for other players. Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, who finished third with one first-place vote, has been the engine behind Detroit's remarkable season that has the Pistons atop the conference and headed for home-court advantage in the first round for the first time since 2008.
And with Jayson Tatum still sidelined -- though potentially nearing a return -- from the Achilles tear he suffered in last year's playoffs, Celtics forward Jaylen Brown has continued his remarkable campaign, finishing sixth in the straw poll. Considering Brown was ninth in December's poll, his jump is a nod to both his impressive play and the short-handed Celtics hitting the All-Star break in second place in the East.
Rounding out the ballot was a trio of East All-Stars: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (11 total votes, 27 total points, seventh place), New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (seven total votes, 17 total points, ninth place) and 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey (four total votes, 10 total points, 10th place).
