It had been sensed for a long time that The NBA MVP this season would not be an American player either.but it was confirmed this morning when it was announced meet the three candidates: Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, current winner, Serbian Nikola Jokic and Frenchman Victor Wembanyama. The Slovenian Luka Doncic He has fallen in that race in which the first three remain.
For the eighth consecutive year, the award for best NBA player will go to a foreigner. You have to go back to 2018 to find an American lifting the highest individual trophy in the best League in the world. Was James Harden, then with the Rockets. Since then they have shared it Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019 and 2020), Nikola Jokic (2021, 2022 and 2024), Joel Embiid (2023) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2025).
Nikola Jokic protects the ball from pressure from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The importance and weight of foreign players has been increasing in recent seasons. In that 17-18 in which Harden was crowned, everything the best quintet was made up of Americans. Along with ‘The Beard’ were Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. In the last four years, only three local stars have appeared: Jayson Tatum on all four occasions, Devin Booker (2022) and Donovan Mitchell (2025).
Defend American honor
This season, with Tatum unable to qualify for the best quintets due to having been injured almost the entire course, American honor could be defended by his teammate Jaylen Brown and Cade Cunninghamwhich I have been allowed to opt for despite not reaching the minimum of 65 matches. There are four places in that best five that seem assured for Shai, Jokic, Wembanyama and Doncic.
Victor Wembanyama makes a basket attempt in the presence of Toumani Camara.
The last three have dominated the main statistics of the season, another aspect that speaks of the impact of foreigners in the NBA. The Lakers point guard has been the top scorer (33.5 points on average), the Nuggets center has once again led the rebounds (12.9) and assists (10.7) while The Spurs prodigy has made more blocks than anyone else (3.1) and aspires to be the best defender of the year.