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No NBA award generates near the level of passion and debate as Most Valuable Player. Stalking this race starts early — by the end of the first week of the season, there will be people on podcasts talking about how “Player X is off to a fast start, he’s making his MVP case.”
Will there be much debate this season? Not according to the team at NBCSports.com — everyone is picking the same guy, Victor Wembanyama. Here are our picks, but first the odds
for the top five, via our partners at DraftKings:
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Victor Wembanyama +210
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander +350
Nikola Jokic +500
Luka Doncic +550
Giannis Antetokounmpo +1200
Most Valuable Player prediction
Kurt Helin, NBC lead NBA writer:
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
I spent way too much time trying to find a reason — other than health — to pick anyone other than Victor Wembanyama to win this award. I couldn’t do it. There are other players I can legitimately make a case for: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has won the last two MVPs and is in his prime on a team that is going to win a lot of games; Nikola Jokic has averaged a triple-double two straight years and may have won it last year if a knee injury hadn’t slowed him near the end of the season; Luka Doncic is in his prime and has a team around him now better built to take advantage of his skill set. Still, it comes back to Wembanyama, in part because he’ll also have a massive defensive impact that can’t be overlooked, and at age 22 his offense is improving each year. If Wemby’s healthy, he’s going to be very tough to beat.
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Raphielle Johnson, NBC Sports Fantasy basketball lead analyst:
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
Wembanyama’s first postseason should have put to rest the idea that elite players have to deal with multiple failures before reaching the mountaintop. With the 7-foot-5 phenom leading the way, the Spurs reached the NBA Finals for the first time in over a decade. Of course, San Antonio didn’t win the title, and that should motivate Wembanyama. This pick isn’t so much about it being his “turn” as it is about the feeling that Wemby is ready to take his individual dominance to another…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-mvp-predictions-2026-27-154745600.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-07 15:47:00
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