Victor Wembanyama spent the last two months building an MVP case that he believed should leave “no debate” by season’s end. From emphasizing defense as half the game to pointing at San Antonio’s dominance over top contenders, the Spurs star made his argument loud and clear. His peers around the league heard every word and were given a chance to weigh in through an anonymous player poll that put his campaign to the ultimate test.
In the anonymous NBA player poll published on Friday, OKC Thunder star and reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, led all candidates with 39 percent of the vote. Denver Nuggets big man and perennial MVP contender, Nikola Jokic, came in second with 21.4 percent, while Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham, and Luka Doncic shared third place at 8.2 percent apiece. Wembanyama finished sixth with just five percent of the ballot. “Shai has been super consistent,” one player who voted for Gilgeous-Alexander said. “They’ve had injuries, and he’s stayed consistent. We take it for granted, but he scores at least 20 every night. He’s had a lot of his guys injured, and they’re still No. 1 in the West.”
NBA players have voted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the league MVP as he nears his second straight Michael Jordan Trophy, per @TheAthleticNBA
SGA reportedly doubled the support of Nikola Jokic in the player poll, while Victor Wembanyama failed to crack the top five. pic.twitter.com/Nbxl6cWrgo
— NBA Base (@TheNBABase) April 10, 2026
The players’ vote served as a direct rebuttal to the case Wembanyama built so deliberately down the stretch. After the Spurs clinched the Southwest Division in late March, he laid out three pillars for his MVP push. He argued that defense makes up half the game and remains undervalued, pointed to San Antonio’s 4-1 record against Oklahoma City, and stressed that offensive impact goes far beyond scoring. “My goal is to make sure there is no debate anymore at the end of the season,” he said. His peers responded clearly, and this time, there was no debate in his favor.
The timing of the poll helps explain part of the outcome. Voting opened in late February, which likely captured early-season momentum for players like Brown and Cunningham before Wembanyama’s late surge fully took over. Even then, the numbers behind his case remain as compelling as advertised. The Spurs post a defensive rating around 100.8 with him on the floor compared to 118.0 without him, one of the best differentials in the league. Pair that with a 62.4 true shooting percentage in just 29.2 minutes per night, and his impact becomes impossible to ignore.
The Gap Between the Narrative and the Numbers of Wembanyama
The disconnect between what Wembanyama’s metrics say and where players placed him in the poll is not entirely unfamiliar territory for the MVP conversation. NBA.com’s Kia MVP Ladder noted the historical parallel: 20 years ago, Kobe Bryant led the league in scoring at 35.4 points per game, then carried the Lakers to 45 wins, but still finished fourth in the MVP voting behind Steve Nash, LeBron James, and Dirk Nowitzki.
Perception and production have always operated on separate tracks in this race. The latest ESPN media straw poll tells a different story, with Gilgeous-Alexander still leading comfortably but Wembanyama firmly in second ahead of Jokic. That gap between media evaluation and player sentiment highlights just how differently the same body of work is being interpreted. His peers, who compete against him night after night, ultimately leaned toward consistency and team dominance over late-season surge. With international stars like Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, Doncic, and Wembanyama dominating the conversation, the Michael Jordan Trophy appears set to remain out of American hands once again.
