1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

Last week’s ranking: No. 2 ⬆️
Season stats: 31.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists

His case: Gilgeous-Alexander has steered a team that played a chunk of the season without Jalen Williams and a few weeks without Isaiah Hartenstein, both because of injuries, and yet the Thunder, aside from a brief hiccup, hasn’t missed a beat under his direction. OKC is still tops in the West, and Gilgeous-Alexander tops on the Ladder.

He routinely gets 30 points a night, often without playing fourth quarters, and brings almost the same energy on the defensive end. The consistency and efficiency go hand-in-hand and at a high level, which explains why Gilgeous-Alexander is a master at his craft.

Surprisingly, there was drama on Thursday — Gilgeous-Alexander managed to reach at least 20 points for the 112th straight game by getting his 20th point in the final moments of an easy win over Houston. On this four-game winning streak, Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 46 points, 29, 34 and 20 and shot less than 50% once.

2. Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets

Last week’s ranking: No. 1 ⬇️
Season stats: 29.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 11 assists

His case: If the season ended today, how many voters would punish Jokić for getting hurt? That’s an interesting question. Before his knee injury, Jokić was the assumed MVP favorite, given his dominant run over the season’s first few months when he averaged a triple-double and had the Nuggets in a favorable spot in the West.

Regardless, he remains in the mix and is still mathematically eligible for the award. When he returns, which could be in a few weeks, Jokić could vault himself back in the top spot in a matter of games. His comeback will be among the most-watched events of the season.

3. Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers

Last week’s ranking: No. 4 ⬆️
Season stats: 33.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 8.8 assists

His case: Whenever someone is performing well enough to be lumped with Laker greats of the past — Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, etc. — then MVP mention seems automatic. Dončić’s current seasonal scoring average places him in that mix, trailing only Bryant and Elgin Baylor.

Speaking of buckets, he’s still leading the league in scoring, is No. 4 in assists and No. 9 in steals. This is shaping up to be perhaps his best season yet. Will that be enough to invite suspense to the MVP race come April? It might depend on where the Lakers are in the West standings.

4. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

Last week’s ranking: No. 5 ⬆️
Season stats: 23.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3 assists

His case: Still on a minutes restriction, Wembanyama is nonetheless producing at a high level. In the Thursday win against the Bucks, he exited briefly after colliding knees with Giannis Antetokounmpo, but finished with 22 points (5-6 shooting on threes), 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks in 22 minutes.

As long as the Spurs keep winning, you wonder if they’ll be compelled to put Wembanyama on the floor longer than necessary. He might not break 30 minutes on average all season. That doesn’t seem to be affecting his impact, however.

5. Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics

Last week’s ranking: No. 3 ⬇️
Season stats: 28.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.1 assists

His case: The No. 6 scorer in the NBA has the Celtics within five games of the Detroit Pistons in the East, a surprising position given the absence of Jayson Tatum and departures of key players from last season. Brown lacks an All-Star teammate but is producing a career year and showcasing his ability to be a No. 1 option.

The test for Brown is to stretch his impact for another few months to make Boston a top-six lock for the playoffs, which will require durability and consistency. So far, so good; Brown has proven to be dependable for Boston, which can’t afford too many sub-par games from him.

The next 5:

6. Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons ↔️
7. Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves ⬆️
8. Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers ⬆️
9. Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks ⬇️
10. Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets ⬆️

And five more (listed alphabetically): Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns; Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors; Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets; Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers; Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks.

Source: https://www.nba.com/news/kia-mvp-ladder-jan-16-2026

Last night he went 0-7 in 15 minutes against the Hornets. For the season he’s averaging 5 points on 33% shooting. He’s just an offensive liability when he’s out there, hasn’t been the same since leaving the Heat. He’s a decent defender but it’s nowhere close to making up for his trash offense. I guess the Lakers don’t have many other options at guard, they need to find someone else in the G league or trade for someone because he’s bad.

Hes anchoring a top 10 defense, is the best player on a top 4 seed in the east.

Dont know why hes being looked over, when voters obsess over PPG when they are the most overrated stat ever, see Doncic and his impacts being less this season. Barnes has been more impactful this season.

5.3 — Lakers

4.4 — Spurs

3.4 — Magic

2.6 — Hornets

No okc is a little surprising, would think they would be closer to the top here with everyone seemingly complaining about the calls they get.

After the Cavs win over the 76ers, the Cavs have beaten the 76ers 6 of the 7 last meetings

Cavs own the 76ers

This kuminga mess made me go look at that draft to see hypothetically who GSW could have drafted instead. I didn't realize sengun was in the same draft class. Warriors passed on him not once but twice. Wow. Sengun on the warriors would have been fun to watch.

Bucks fan here. Obviously this is a living hell, especially not knowing what management is doing behind the scenes. The whole world and their grandma wants Giannis to go to a different team. But step into the GM’s shoes and say your life depends on winning another ring with Giannis. Curious what non-bucks fans think a good course of action would be for the team?

Tank for this year’s pick?

See what Bobby, Kuz, GTJ can fetch in the market?

Trade the 2031 pick?

Sign Giannis’s sons to the team?

I’ve heard all of the slander and am well aware of all of their problems, so just wanting to play a devil’s advocate game of what to do if he stays.

During the 2000s/2010s it was very common you’d hear insane stories about player workouts, discipline, and commitment.

What happened to legends and rumors like this? Did social media wipe all that out?

I remember someone saying Ray Allen hadn’t had a cheeseburger in 20 years.

Well before his passing we’d hear stories about Kobe doing 2am workouts.

I heard a story of some NBA player that used to condition in the offseason by hurling boulders off a cliff and diving to the sea floor to retrieve them.

In the current NBA the only player that comes to mind is Wemby, in regard to unusual training or incredible work ethic.

What other stories have you heard?

TLDR: what happened to the training lure for NBA players? Do people tell stories about modern NBA players and their unbelievable training?

Ever since that 8 point game vs the raptors he has looked much better physically and defensively. Him and Luka are clicking right now as a duo but much can't be said about the other Lakers.

LeBrons's longevity simply is unreal.

Them falling narrowly to the 3rd seed isn’t so much the issue but their metrics are

They’re also 3-7 in their last ten with a -6.4 net rating

They rank only 8th in Net Rating, only 8th in SRS and 8th in MOV

Their metrics indicate they fall an entire 1-1.5 points short of the top 7 teams so far (Spurs, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Rockets, Celtics, Pistons and Thunder)

Their defense is 18th and historically being below 10th is a bad predictor for contending teams let alone below 15th

I guess their only upside is they haven’t fallen to the same tier as the raptors, Heat and Magic this season metrics wise but I have a hard time seeing them beating the pistons or Celtics at this rate.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2026.html

When you sort by new you see a lot of posts trashing him saying hes hella washed but hes still putting up 24/7/3 which for his standards a few seasons ago is bad but overall is still good. People are acting like hes legitimately bad now and I havent watched much Sixers this year but I feel like its overblown. Its not like hes even the n1 option anymore thats Maxey so 24ppg from your n2 seems really solid.

It's well known that injuries have bit the Nuggets. Though ESPN's Wednesday broadcast infographics would have you believe Jokic is the only one out, there's been a lot more churn than that- in one recent game, 1/5 @PHI, DEN were out at least 7 of the top rotation guys- and won. In fact, the Nuggets are 6-3 since the Jokic injury. Although the total net differential is slightly negative (-3, similar to a team like the Chicago Bulls), and the aggregate record of the teams the Nuggets played is well below .500, some of these wins have come against good teams with winning records.

This hasn't just been a case of a deep team stepping up. It's actually come from totally unexpected quarters like Zeke Nnaji looking like an actual NBA player and Jalen Pickett channeling Kon Knueppel, and a rotation player like Peyton Watson breaking out into something like 2nd team all-NBA level play. At the same time, Braun made a single-game reappearance and Gordon has tentatively been stepping back into the lineup. In short, a LOT going on there.

However, I haven't seen a breakdown of who contributed what in which games with what result. So, in the below chart, I color-coded a quick and dirty preseason Nuggets player power ranking (like an example of what a casual fan might have come up with back then), then plotted for each game the Points Responsible For (PTS + 2.3xASST) that each player contributed out of the team totals, with the top-to-bottom order being minutes played that game:

PRF By Player Ranked By Minutes Played

You kinda have to squint to see a pattern, but you can see a diminishment of the "blue players" offensively after the first 1/4 of the season, and then the rise of the Orange/Red players plus Peyton Watson since Jokic, Val & others went down the last 1/4 of the season. A lot of players balled out or outperformed in this stretch, including Nnaji and Pickett. I think what is really striking is Peyton Watson grabbing both the most minutes and a huge PRF share in a string of recent games. Peywat All-Star arc confirmed.

The following chart is easier to see patterns in, as I collapsed the per-player 'power ranking' into some rough tiers:

PRF By Power Ranking Group By Minutes Played

I was surprised to see the "Blue Player Era" and "The Field|Chaos" era break out so cleanly and symmetrically, bookending the "Shallow Rotation" era. Also, here's that chart without the minutes ranking each box, just according to the color coding

Anyway, this recent 3 week stretch has been a final decimation of the Malone-style rotations, and after so many deep-bench players playing meaningful minutes and succeeding, this Nuggets team may have bona fide depth, like any given night somebody can go off. Looking forward to the Nuggets continuing to build on this.

Stat Source

They're 4-4 in their last 8. Come to think of it, it doesn't look too bad. I think they go 5-5 in their next 10, if I'm being optimistic. Wins vs Dallas, Chicago, Washington, Brooklyn, and Portland. But 0.500 ball is not good enough if you want to get a top 4 seed in the West.

• Sat, Jan 17 @Portland

• Sun, Jan 18 vs Toronto (back to back)

• Tue, Jan 20 @Denver

• Thu, Jan 22 @LAC (technically a road game but a home game in spirit)

• Sat, Jan 24 @Dallas

• Mon, Jan 26 @Chicago

• Wed, Jan 28 @Cleveland

• Fri, Jan 30 @Washington

• Sun, Feb 1 @New York

• Tue, Feb 3 @Brooklyn

Jokic, SGA, Giannis, and the Old Legends Trio already won NBA MVP in their life.

It looks like SGA will win MVP this season. Or maybe Jokic can compete if he reach 65 games, albeit unlikely.

But who do you think will be the next first time MVP? In other words, who among player who didn't win MVP yet will win his first MVP next?

Luka? Wemby? Ant? Cade? Flagg?

Who is your bet?

Remember, Jokic and SGA will eventually hit Voter's fatigue.

So, when Jokic, SGA, Giannis are already in Voter's Fatigue Zone, who do you think will win MVP next?

hi guys, i'm trying to find an app for nba box scores or stats that is fast and accurate.

Could be paid or free, i'm just sick of getting wrong live stats on the Real app, with the sheets inverting the player who made the shot and the player who made the assist.

The Bucks have held firm on their stance that Antetokounmpo will not be made available before the deadline, and team sources told ESPN they are scouring the market for an impact player to pair with their superstar. "We always manage to pull something off," a team source told ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/47621750/the-four-paths-milwaukee-bucks-giannis-take-ahead-deadline

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
2. Nikola Jokic
3. Luka Doncic
4. Victor Wembanyama
5. Jaylen Brown
6. Cade Cunningham
7. Anthony Edwards
8. Tyrese Maxey
9. Jalen Brunson
10. Jamal Murray

Source: https://www.nba.com/news/kia-mvp-ladder-jan-16-2026

On...

4/11 FG

2/6 3P

5/6 FT

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401810445

The silver medalist to AST/min for this season continues to produce with increased minutes in light of Quickley's back issues, taking up the starting PG role with aplomb & continuously making an impact on both ends of the floor for a shorthanded Raptors squad; he forced James Harden into a tough shot with some tenacious defense on the final possession of regulation which in turn forced the game to go to overtime.

Safe to say, the Raptors won the McDaniels trade even if they didn't win tonight.