The 2025–26 NBA MVP voting results are in.
As it was reported earlier Sunday morning, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won his second consecutive MVP award. He received 83 first-place votes—73 more than Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokić, who finished in second place—and 939 voting points overall to run away with his second MVP award in as many years.
Following Gilgeous-Alexander in the voting results were Jokić (634 voting points), Victor Wembanyama (569), Luka Dončić (250), Cade Cunningham (117) and Jaylen Brown (89). But two more players found their way in the 2025-26 MVP race (well, at least on the chart) with exactly one fifth-place vote apiece.
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Sneaking on there with one voting point was Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell. Here are the full results from the NBA’s global panel of 100 voters:
2025-26 NBA MVP voting—full results
| PLAYER | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | 5TH | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC | 83 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 939 |
| Nikola Jokić, DEN | 10 | 48 | 37 | 4 | 1 | 634 |
| Victor Wembanyama, SAS | 5 | 36 | 47 | 10 | 2 | 569 |
| Luka Dončić, LAL | 0 | 1 | 8 | 60 | 23 | 250 |
| Cade Cunningham, DET | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 42 | 117 |
| Jaylen Brown, BOS | 0 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 30 | 89 |
| Kawhi Leonard, LAC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Donovan Mitchell, CLE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Leonard, in his seventh season with the Clippers since signing there in 2019, averaged a career-high 27.9 points in 65 games—just enough to qualify for the MVP award based on the NBA’s 65-game minimum. He put up a career-high 6.8 attempts per game from three-point range and drained them at a 38.7% clip while leading Los Angeles to a 42–40 record and play-in tournament appearance.
Mitchell tied Leonard for sixth on the NBA’s scoring leaderboard this season, averaging 27.9 per game to go along with 5.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds. He shot a career-best 57.7% inside the perimeter and scored 30+ points in 34 games.
Other notable outliers in the 2025-26 MVP voting results:
- SGA received three third-place votes and one fourth-place vote. When he won the MVP award last season, he only saw first- and second-place votes and tallied 913 total points.
- Despite the late-season push, Dončić didn’t receive a single first-place vote for MVP.
- Cade Cunningham finished behind Dončić in MVP voting but saw two first-place votes.
- Jokić and SGA have now finished No. 1 and No. 2 in MVP voting for three consecutive seasons.
Jokić won the 2023-24 MVP before finishing runner-up to SGA the last two campaigns. Jokić has finished first or second in MVP voting every year since 2020-21.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Two NBA Players Received Exactly One Vote for 2025–26 MVP Award—Full Results.
