Luka Doncic proves this is a 3-man race with Nikola Jokic, SGA

Over the past few seasons, the NBA MVP race has come down to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic fighting for the prize in the final weeks of the season. Looks like we’re headed for it again, but this time, Luka Dončić is the third rider in this race.

What Luka has done so far this season for Los Angeles Lakersdespite missing four games, he was incredible.

In addition to leading the Lakers to a 15-4 record, trailing only Gilgeous-Alexander’s Thunder in the Western Conference standings, Doncic led the league in scoring all year. Not to mention, he’s the main catalyst for the Lakers, who went 4-0 in their NBA Cup bracket and have a chance to return to Las Vegas and possibly become the tournament’s first two-time champion of the season.

For the past few years, Los Angeles has been led by LeBron James. The Lakers revolved around him, and he had to be at his best for the team to have any chance of competing for a title.

That is no longer the case, as The Lakers have clearly become Luke’s teamand for the first time in his career, LeBron is no more alpha in your team. So far, that hasn’t been a problem, as Los Angeles has gone 4-0 in games James has played.

More importantly, Doncic has continued to improve since LeBron’s return and has scored at least 30 points in six straight games. He will look to extend that streak to seven games Monday night against the Phoenix Suns.

Very little separates all three MVP candidates to this point in the season.

While Luka leads the league in scoring and takes the Lakers to new heights, Gilgeous-Alexander continues to push the Thunder into unseen territory. At 20-1, Oklahoma City is certainly on pace to potentially break the Golden State Warriors record of 73 wins from 2015-16.

Of course, there is also Jokić, who with his triple-double performance continues to score goals and save Denver Nuggets afloat without Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon.

Even though this race is extremely close heading into the holiday season, Gilgeous-Alexander still has to lose.

Previous 2023-24 NBA MVP Rankings: 5th week | 4th week | 3rd week | 2nd week | 1st week

Previous rank: #1

2025-26 Stats: 21 games, 32.5 points, 6.6 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, 54.5 FG%, 41.1 3P%

Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t scored fewer than 23 points in a game this season and added three more such performances to his resume last week. That extends his streak of consecutive 20-point games to 93, passing Wilt Chamberlain (92) for the second-longest streak in NBA history.

Now, Shai is turning his attention to doing this 33 more times in a row to tie Chamberlain’s NBA record from 1961-63.

What makes Gilgeous-Alexander the MVP favorite, aside from the Thunder’s dominance, is the fact that he doesn’t play many fourth quarters and still averages the numbers that he does. If Shai had played as well as Jokic, Doncic and others, he would probably be leading the league in goals and have even higher secondary statistics.

Unless Oklahoma City falls off a cliff or SGA gets hurt, it’s hard not to see him at the top of these MVP rankings.

2. Nikola Jokic – Denver Nuggets

Previous rank: #2

Stats for the 2025/26 season: 19 games, 28.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, 10.9 assists, 1.5 steals, 63.7 FG%, 45.3 3P%

The biggest advantage that Nikola Jokic currently has over others is that his MVP impact is clearly visible. Denver is struggling and is battling multiple injuriestrying to find production from new faces at new positions, and Jokic has single-handedly put the team on his back and has the Nuggets at 14-5 in the Western Conference.

Not to mention, Jokić did not miss a single game this season.

Jokić currently ranks first in triple-doubles (10), rebounds and assists, and ranks seventh in points. The Nuggets star is also one of 23 players with at least 28 steals this season, proving he has an impact on both ends of the floor.

He’s not far behind Gilgeous-Alexander in the NBA MVP rankings, and some would even give Jokic the early lead.

3. Luka Doncic – Los Angeles Lakers

Previous rank: #5

2025-26 Stats: 15 games, 35.1 points, 9.2 assists, 8.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals, 47.1 FG%, 33.9 3P%

In three games last week, Luca averaged 37.3 points (first in the NBA), 10.3 assists and 8.7 rebounds per game while shooting 48.5 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from 3-point range. As a result, he was named Western Conference Player of the Week.

His best performance was achieved on Tuesday in the third game of the NBA Cup of the Lakers against the LA Clippers, as Dončić recorded 43 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds to lift his team to a 135-118 victory.

This 43-point performance by Doncic resulted in him passing Magic Johnson tied for 10th on the all-time 40-point list in just his 41st game as a Laker. That’s an absurd statistic, there are so many other accolades worth mentioning for Dončić, but we simply don’t have time here.

If Luka can keep up his scoring and keep the Lakers in the win column, he’ll be right up there with Gilgeous-Alexander and Jokic in the MVP race.

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks

Previous rank: #3

2025-26 stats: 15 games, 30.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.0 blocks, 64.3 FG%, 45.5 3P%

Without Giannis Antetokounmpo on the floorThe Milwaukee Bucks went 0-4 and found themselves in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. Even though they still lost when Giannis returned, it’s clear to see that Antetokounmpo has to carry the Bucks to victory.

Returning from a four-game layoff with a left groin injury, Giannis had 30 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in 28 minutes against the New York Knicks. In the very next game, Antetokounmpo had 29 points and eight rebounds in just 19 minutes.

These are Giannis’ MVP-like numbers, but the problem is that his team just isn’t good enough to be an MVP contender. Although he probably is most valuable player in the NBA by definition of that phrase, he has no chance of winning the award as long as SGA, Jokic and Doncic have their organizations at the top of the Western standings.

5. Cade Cunningham – Detroit Pistons

Previous rank: #4

2025-26 Stats: 17 games, 28.8 points, 9.4 assists, 6.4 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 45.6 FG%, 31.2 3P%

Cade Cunningham and The Detroit Pistons had their 13-game winning streak snapped last week, and lost back-to-back games for the first time all year. Despite that, Cunningham was still masterful, averaging 33.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor last week.

He’s the main reason the Pistons sit atop the East standings in December, and Cunningham has put his team in position to win every game. Like Gilgeous-Alexander, he makes the people around him better, and the team is only able to go as far as he is able to lead them.

That’s why the Pistons have a great chance to finish the season atop the East, which will add to his MVP resume.

It’s just missing the cut

6. Victor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs (6th place last week)

7. Alperen Sengun – Houston Rockets (7th place last week)

8. Jalen Johnson – Atlanta Hawks (No. 9 last week)

9. Donovan Mitchell – Cleveland Cavaliers (No. 8 last week)

10. Tyrese McKay – Philadelphia 76ers (unranked last week)