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Kevin Pelton
Two NBA players separated themselves from the league’s other biggest stars in 2025. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets battled for MVP of the 2024-25 regular season, splitting all 100 first-place votes, dueled in perhaps the most memorable series of the 2025 playoffs and are 1-2 again in the first installment of the MVP straw poll conducted by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
In part, they benefited from injuries that thinned the ranks of contenders for the NBA’s best player. Luka Doncic did not qualify for All-NBA last season after playing just 50 games, while first team pick Jayson Tatum has been sidelined since suffering a right Achilles rupture in May. And Victor Wembanyama‘s likely reign as Defensive Player of the Year was delayed by deep-vein thrombosis that ended his 2024-25 season prematurely.
Still, Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic played at a historic level throughout 2025. Gilgeous-Alexander was metronomic as a scorer for the Thunder, who broke through for the first championship since the franchise’s move to Oklahoma City and got off to a 24-1 start. Jokic, meanwhile, combined triple-double averages with unprecedented efficiency.
At the close of each year since 2014, I’ve handed out the imaginary Golden Basketball award as an equivalent to soccer’s Ballon d’Or, which rewards performance across all domestic and international competitions. In the NBA’s case, that means considering both regular season and playoffs, which aren’t usually combined.
Let’s review the nominees and honorable mentions to look back on the year that was in NBA basketball before choosing a winner between Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic.
Honorable mentions
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Résumé: All-NBA first team
When he was on the court, Antetokounmpo was as dominant as anyone outside the top two players during 2025. Injuries played a significant role for him and several perennial Golden Basketball candidates; Antetokounmpo missed much of November and December because of muscle strains, potentially knocking him out of All-NBA contention in the 2025-26 season.
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Résumé: All-NBA third team
A breakthrough year saw Cunningham earn his first All-Star and All-NBA appearances. He built on them by leading the Pistons to the top of the Eastern Conference in the 2025 portion of the current regular season. Cunningham also made his playoff debut, averaging 25.0 points, 8.7 assists and 8.3 rebounds during a hard-fought loss to the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Résumé: All-NBA second team
Edwards picked up his game after the calendar turned to 2025 during the regular season, finishing behind only the top three finishers (Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Antetokounmpo) in MVP voting in wins above replacement player after Jan. 1 by my WARP metric. He also led the Timberwolves to the conference finals for a second consecutive year. Add it up and Edwards had the third-highest total WARP in the calendar year. Only the lack of a signature award or playoff run on his résumé kept Edwards from being a finalist.
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Résumé: All-NBA first team
Don’t blame Mitchell for the Cavaliers’ 2025 failing to live up to the promise they showed during the 2024-25 regular season. Customarily a playoff overachiever, he averaged 29.6 points and ranked fifth in total WARP despite Cleveland being upset by the Indiana Pacers in the East semifinals. And Mitchell has been even better so far during 2025-26, trying valiantly to keep the Cavaliers afloat amid mounting injuries to his fellow stars.
The Finalists
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Résumé: NBA Cup MVP, All-NBA second team
Brunson’s NBA Cup MVP win was the only individual MVP besides the All-Star Game in which Gilgeous-Alexander was beaten in 2025. Granted, Brunson has had plenty of help from a Knicks team that is relying less on him to create offense under Mike Brown. But New York did what the Thunder could not and took down Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup final, making the Knicks’ roster champions of a competition for the first time since 1973.
Naturally, Brunson was also key to New York’s first Eastern Conference finals appearance in more than two decades. Despite missing time late in the regular season because of injury, Brunson finished 10th in MVP voting and made the All-NBA second team.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
Résumé: All-NBA third team
When the clock struck midnight at the start of 2025, Haliburton and the Pacers were struggling mightily. From Jan. 1 on, though, just three teams won more games than Indiana, and Haliburton played his way onto the All-NBA team for a second consecutive year.
All of that was just a prelude to Haliburton’s playoff run. He led the Pacers to their first NBA Finals since 2000, ranking second to Gilgeous-Alexander in playoff WARP. If anything, that might undersell Haliburton’s importance to Indiana’s historic run of improbable comebacks, often keyed by his fearless shotmaking. If not for a heartbreaking Achilles rupture during Game 7 of the NBA Finals, Haliburton might have been the strongest challenger to this year’s winner.
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Résumé: All-NBA first team
After back-to-back Golden Basketball wins in 2023 and 2024, Jokic was the clear runner-up this year. He finished second in MVP voting and in the 2025 portion of the MVP straw poll and also saw his Nuggets eliminated by the Thunder in an epic conference semifinals matchup that went the distance.
Given Jokic’s historic production, which saw him average a triple-double in 2024-25 and then improve on those marks this season, his second-place finish is no reflection on performance. It’s purely a matter of Gilgeous-Alexander reaching new heights of his own.
And the winner is…
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Résumé: MVP, Finals MVP
Game 4 of the NBA Finals was the defining moment of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 2025. With the Thunder unexpectedly behind 2-1 in the series and trailing by seven points heading to the fourth quarter at Indiana, Gilgeous-Alexander matched the Pacers (17 points) with 15 of his own in the final period. His seven points in 71 seconds catapulted Oklahoma City from down four to up for good in a 111-104 win.
More than MVP moments, however, Gilgeous-Alexander separated himself from the pack with consistency. His streak of consecutive 20-point games during the regular season reached triple digits in December, second only to Wilt Chamberlain in NBA history. Gilgeous-Alexander enjoyed one of the most dominant years in NBA history: He was tops in WARP during the 2025 portion of the 2024-25 regular season, during the playoffs and is again No. 1 so far in 2025-26.
Past winners:
2014: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
2015: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
2016: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
2017: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
2018: LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
2019: Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
2020: LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
2021: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
2022: Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks
2023: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
2024: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
