SGA Goes Back-to-Back for MVP as Wembanyama Debate Heats Up Out West

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander captured his second consecutive NBA MVP by a decisive margin, but a parallel Western Conference conversation is gaining traction. The bigger question now: has Victor Wembanyama already overtaken him as the league's best overall player?

The news

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been named the 2024-25 NBA MVP, claiming back-to-back honors as the Oklahoma City Thunder's 26-year-old guard finished well ahead of fellow finalists Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Yet even as the hardware was handed out, a louder debate took hold out west — whether San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama has already surpassed him as the NBA's best player.

Prior context

The final voting tells the story of a crowded but ultimately one-sided race. Jokić collected 10 first-place votes, Wembanyama picked up five, and Detroit's Cade Cunningham — who finished fifth behind fourth-place Luka Dončić — landed two. Wembanyama, the Spurs' generational French big man, helped France to a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and previously led French youth sides to two silver medals, including the 2021 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, where he set a tournament record.

The two-way case

SGA's MVP case was hardware-validated and statistically dominant, a regular-season verdict delivered by an eye-popping margin. Wembanyama's case is built on ceiling and two-way impact — the kind of rim-protecting, perimeter-shooting profile that fuels "best player in the world" talk in NBA circles regardless of where the MVP ballots ultimately land.

Key data points

SGA won the 2024-25 MVP by a wide margin over Jokić and Antetokounmpo.
Jokić: 10 first-place votes; Wembanyama: 5; Cunningham: 2.
Dončić finished fourth; Cunningham fifth in the final tally.
Wembanyama earned silver with France at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
SGA is 26 years old and now a back-to-back MVP for Oklahoma City.

What it means

For the Thunder, back-to-back MVPs cement SGA as the face of a title contender and lock in Oklahoma City as a Western Conference gravitational center. For the Spurs, Wembanyama's five first-place votes — without a deep playoff résumé attached — signal that voters and analysts already view him as a tier-one franchise pillar. The split between MVP outcome and "best player" narrative sets up a season-long referendum the league will happily monetize.

What to watch next

The next chapter is on the floor: whether Wembanyama's trajectory translates into deeper Spurs runs, and whether SGA's Thunder can convert MVP-level regular seasons into championship hardware before the conversation tilts further south.