The end of the 2025-26 regular season is rapidly approaching, and the league will soon hand out end-of-season awards. One of the most highly anticipated awards is the NBA MVP.
This season, there have been solid contenders for the award. The current reigning season MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, is gunning for his second consecutive award this season. Meanwhile, guys like Victor Wembanyama and Luka Dončić are aiming to claim their first MVP.
All the names mentioned are deserving candidates; however, there can only be one at the end of the day. While Wembanyama is currently in the lead in the NBA MVP race, a former 10-time All-Star believes that Gilgeous-Alexander is more deserving of the award.
Carmelo Anthony Backs Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP
Gilgeous-Alexander and Wembanyama both have made solid cases for winning the MVP this season. SGA’s case is how he’s efficiently backed up his MVP and championship victories from last season this year. Meanwhile, Wembanyama has proven dominant on both ends of the floor and has led the Spurs to the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
While many are leaning towards Wemby for the MVP award, NBA legend Carmelo Anthony believes that Gilgeous-Alexander will win his second consecutive MVP. In Anthony’s book, the fact that SGA has improved his game and is on the verge of leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to the best record in the NBA this season is the reason why he deserves to win the award this year.
“I love Wemby. I love what he’s doing. … He’s going to be leading in every statistical category in years to come. But right now, Shai got this thing on lock,” Anthony said. “He having a better MVP season this year than he did last year, leads the league in clutch scoring, carrying the defending champs maybe again to the best record in the NBA. If that’s not the MVP, I really don’t know what is.”
Carmelo Anthony says SGA has the MVP award on ‘lock’ over Wemby:
“I love Wemby. I love what he’s doing… He’s going to be leading in every statistical category in years to come, Shai got this thing on lock…. He having a better MVP season this year than he did last year, leads… pic.twitter.com/icyj0gDgwg
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) March 31, 2026
Comparing both stars’ numbers, SGA is averaging 31.6 points, 6.5 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals. Meanwhile, Wemby is averaging 24.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 3.1 blocks, and 1.1 steals.
If we’re going to look at scoring alone, Gilgeous-Alexander undoubtedly has Wembanyama beat. But if we look at their game overall, Wemby has displayed a more well-balanced performance, being efficient on both offense and, especially, defense.
Having that in mind, it will all come down to the voters and what they think is more important when crowning the MVP.
