OKC Thunder Superstar Leads First MVP Straw Poll

The Oklahoma City Thunder have seen Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lead the way in the first MVP straw poll. What will the Thunder need to do to get Gilgeous-Alexander his second straight MVP award?

Dec 18, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) gestures after scoring against the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

It is the most wonderful time of the year. ESPN has released its first NBA MVP Straw poll of the season. This is a welcome sign more than a quarter of the way through the season, as each year this poll is the most accurate measure of who will be crowned the league's MVP by season's end. It is due to the hard work of Tim Bontemps, who polls actual potential voters as he gauges the feelings of 100 league insiders.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are off to a 25-3 start on the heels of winning their first NBA Championship and seeing superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander take home his first NBA MVP award. Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in scoring and the Thunder to 68 wins in the regular season on jaw-dropping efficiency. He went on to win the Western Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP as he hoisted the Larry O'Brien trophy in June.

This season, it is much of the same. Not only are the Thunder enjoying the best start in the league, but the two standouts for the most prestigious individual award are Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.

This has been the case for going on three years, the rubber match if you will. Denver has been awesome this season owning the No. 2 seed out West while seeing their bolstered depth shine especially down Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon for a significant stretch.

While other players such as Cade Cunningham, Luka Doncic and Tyrese Maxey have put up great seasons thus far, none of them are having the individual or team success of the top two.

In the first straw poll of the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder star led the way with 57 first place votes, 41 second place votes, a third and fourth place finish as well. That totaled 865 points, narrowly edging out Jokic who had 822 points. The next closest? Doncic with just 432 points.

Jokic grabbed 42 first place votes, 57 second place votes and a fourth place vote to tally that score. Doncic was the only other player to grab a first place finish adding a second place vote as well before cleaning up with 74 third place votes, 13 fourth place votes and a fifth place finish.

Bontemps writes "The steadying force has been Gilgeous-Alexander, with his 32.4 points in just 33.0 minutes per game, helping to bolster his defense of the 2025 MVP and the Thunder's title. If successful, OKC would snap a seven-year run without a repeat champ....With our early snapshot of the MVP race predicting another razor thin margin between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic, the Thunder's chase for 70 wins (and beyond) could be the determining factor."

Gilgeous-Alexander's big narrative to sway the voters away from the larger than life stat lines of Jokic will be the team success he drives Oklahoma City to. It will be interesting to see how this race takes shape throughout the rest of the season.