Gilgeous-Alexander tops – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander claimed back-to-back NBA MVP honours for 2025-26, edging out Victor Wembanyama in a personal standoff that is about to spill into the Western Conference Finals. The Thunder and Spurs meet in Game 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT, with O
The battle was won on an awards stage, but the war is already scheduled to begin on the court.. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the NBA’s MVP for 2025-26. and the league’s top individual honour lands just before the Western Conference Finals get underway between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs.
The rivalry’s opening act arrives with Game 1 set for 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT, with the matchup tipped for Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ as Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama—both framed all regular season as the league’s best-two-team stories—take their places against each other again.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP comes for a second straight season.. At 28 years old and in his eighth season. the Thunder star from Hamilton. Ont.. joined a group of 16 all-time greats to win multiple MVP awards and became just the 14th player to win the award in back-to-back seasons.. Canadian basketball also has a new benchmark: with this win. Gilgeous-Alexander is now the only Canadian to capture multiple MVPs. matching Steve Nash’s achievement from 2005-06 and 2006-07.
Wembanyama, meanwhile, thrust himself into the same spotlight with a season built around impact and efficiency on both ends.. He entered the MVP conversation strongly. arguing in mid-March that the award should be his. adding. “There should be. even though I think I should lead the race.. And I’ll try to make sure that by the end of the season. there’s no debate.” His case carried numbers too: he averaged 25 points. 11.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. while leading the NBA in blocked shots with 3.1. all in 29.2 minutes per game.
Even with Gilgeous-Alexander taking the MVP, the Spurs have a clear claim to the rivalry’s center of gravity.. San Antonio finished the regular season second behind the defending champion Thunder with 62 wins—28 more than a year ago—and finished third in defensive rating.. Wembanyama became the first player to win Defensive Player of the Year unanimously. with his length (seven-foot-four and a standing reach of nearly 10 feet). mobility and situational awareness described as the foundation for San Antonio’s influence on defense.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP argument is rooted in productivity and precision. and the season’s headline figures reflect the way OKC leaned into him.. In 2025-26. he averaged 31.1 points. 6.6 assists and 1.4 steals while shooting 60.2 per cent on two-point field goals. 38.6 per cent from three and 87.9 per cent from the free throw line.. He also committed just 2.2 turnovers per game.. The performance is credited with one of the best offensive seasons in NBA history. highlighted as the only season of at least 31 points and 6.0 assists with a True Shooting percentage of 66.5 or better.. It also sat beside a team story: with Gilgeous-Alexander as OKC’s focal point. the Thunder led the NBA in defensive rating for the second straight year.
Beyond the shooting and playmaking, the guard’s consistency became a record chase. Gilgeous-Alexander broke Wilt Chamberlain’s mark for consecutive regular-season games with 20 or more points with his 127th straight on March 12, eventually extending the record to 140 and counting.
The way Gilgeous-Alexander handled the MVP spotlight before the award solidified also became part of the narrative.. Earlier. during a rare moment of visible confidence. he delivered a line to GQ magazine—“I’m the black Steve Nash”—before the 2021-22 season.. At the time. Gilgeous-Alexander was starting his fourth season after playing just 35 games due to injury the year before. and the Thunder had won 22 games in 2020-21 and would win just 24 in 2021-22.. When it came time to make his MVP case later. he smiled confidently but declined to talk up his chances. saying: “I’m good. I let my game do the talking.”
He also wasn’t a newcomer to near-misses.. Gilgeous-Alexander has finished fifth. second. first and now first again in the MVP voting. and his résumé includes finishing with Finals MVP after leading the Thunder to their first title. along with being named the league’s ‘Clutch Player of the Year’ after carrying injury-plagued OKC to a league-best 64 wins this season.
Wembanyama’s Spurs, though, didn’t just chase attention—they tested the Thunder.. In the regular season. San Antonio dominated the head-to-head matchups. winning four of their five games as the only team to win the season series against the Thunder this year.. That’s part of why the Finals could start to feel like a template rather than a one-off.
The history of the Thunder’s rise also hangs over the meeting.. OKC is seeking to become the first team in eight years to repeat as NBA champions. and the MVP doubles down on an organization that has repositioned itself as a potential dynasty.. Gilgeous-Alexander’s own development is part of the late-arrival story: he began his college career after coming off the bench in his one season at the University of Kentucky. saw 10 players drafted ahead of him in 2018. was traded as a rookie. and didn’t make an all-star game until his fifth season.. Now he’s described as just entering his prime. with the MVP placing him alone at the top of the league for the moment as a defending champion and two-time MVP.
Wembanyama’s rise is framed as arriving sooner than expected.. He turned professional as a 15-year-old, was “carefully groomed for superstardom,” and became the unquestioned No.1 pick of the 2023 draft.. As Gilgeous-Alexander enters the Western Conference Finals carrying the MVP title. the piece puts the looming question directly in front of Canadian basketball pride: can the Thunder hold their place. and for how long?
There’s another layer to the rivalry that comes through in the comparisons being made.. Gilgeous-Alexander’s offensive production. efficiency and consistency at the guard position are said to have only one peer—Jordan—highlighted as the Bulls great who won five MVPs and six NBA titles and is described “in many minds” as the best player of all-time.. The Canadian’s national team star form has included averaging at least 30 points per game and shooting 50 per cent from the floor over the past four seasons. and the only player in the last 40 years to have a similar streak is Jordan. who did it for five straight years beginning in 1987-88 when he won three MVPs and the Bulls won three titles.
Wembanyama’s presence. meanwhile. isn’t being treated as a background story—it’s being treated as the one that can challenge the throne.. The Spurs’ defensive power is linked to his unanimous Defensive Player of the Year award. and his regular-season numbers sit next to the way the Thunder still finished as the best team.. The MVP win gives OKC the immediate upper hand. but the regular-season season series—four wins for San Antonio in five games—means San Antonio arrives with a track record that complicates any sense of inevitability.
The pattern is hard to miss: Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP season is paired with OKC’s top defensive rating for the second straight year. while Wembanyama’s historic defensive résumé lands alongside San Antonio finishing second in wins and winning four of five matchups against the Thunder.. With Game 1 set for 8:30 p.m.. ET / 5:30 p.m.. PT. the awards vote and the head-to-head results are pointing to the same matchup everyone expected—two teams built around their stars.
If the Western Conference Finals decide who takes the next step. the piece keeps returning to what happens after the first tip.. Whichever star and whichever team advances to the NBA Finals will carry prohibitive favourite status over the best team the Eastern Conference can offer. and the meeting between Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama is presented as the opening chapter of a longer story.
For now, Gilgeous-Alexander has the MVP trophy. Wembanyama has responded with an epic season of his own. But the larger, longer fight has already begun.
NBA MVP 2025-26 Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Victor Wembanyama Oklahoma City Thunder San Antonio Spurs Western Conference Finals Game 1 8:30 p.m. ET Defensive Player of the Year Canadian basketball