Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be adding a couple more trophies to his collection.
San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has a shot at doing the same.
And no matter what, for the eighth consecutive year, the NBA MVP will be a player who was born outside of the United States.
Canada’s Gilgeous-Alexander — the reigning NBA MVP, he was a prep standout for Chattanooga’s Hamilton Heights Christian Academy — is one of the finalists for the regular season’s top individual honor, along with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic of Serbia and the Spurs’ Wembanyama, a Frenchman who is also a finalist for defensive player of the year.
The NBA’s run of international MVPs started with back-to-back honors 2019 and 2020 for Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is of Greek and Nigerian descent. Jokic won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023.
Gilgeous-Alexander is also a finalist for clutch player of the year this season. The NBA announced the finalists for seven individual awards Sunday night and will start announcing winners Monday. The defensive player award — widely expected to be going to Wembanyama — comes out then, followed by clutch player a day later and sixth man of the year Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the appeal that got Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic onto the award ballots might allow him All-NBA recognition, but it will not lead to him getting his first MVP award. He was not among the top three in the balloting for MVP; voters cast their ballots last week after Doncic and Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons won appeals that got them on the ballot even though they didn’t satisfy the terms of the NBA’s 65-game rule for eligibility in most cases.
Anthony Edwards lost his appeal but might get an award after all. The Minnesota Timbervolves standout is a finalist for clutch player of the year. He wasn’t on the ballot for MVP, All-NBA and other honors, but Edwards was on the clutch ballot because those nominees were selected by the league’s coaches.
Here are the finalists (listed in alphabetical order by last name) for those seven awards and a brief look at each race.
MVP: Gilgeous-Alexander, 27, is trying to pick up back-to-back honors, 31-year-old Jokic — who has been first or second in the final voting five straight seasons entering this year — is seeking his fourth in six years, and 22-year-old Wembanyama is a finalist for the first time.
Defensive: Chet Holmgren, Thunder; Ausar Thompson, Pistons; Wembanyama, Spurs. Wembanyama was the likely frontrunner to win it last season, but he wound up falling short of eligibility after being diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis at the NBA All-Star break and missing the rest of the season. Minnesota veteran Rudy Gobert’s bid for a fifth defensive award — which would break a record — will have to wait for at least one more year.
Clutch: Edwards, Timberwolves; Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder; Jamal Murray, Nuggets. Clutch scoring is defined as points that come in the final five minutes of a game where the point differential between teams is five or less. Gilgeous-Alexander led the league in clutch points per game, with Edwards second. Denver had two legitimate candidates with Murray and Jokic; voters clearly gave Murray the edge.
Most improved: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks; Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers; Jalen Duren, Pistons. Avdija averaged 24.2 points and led Portland’s surge to the playoffs, while Alexander-Walker — a cousin to SGA and a former Hamilton Heights star himself, he’s bidding to give Atlanta its second consecutive winner of this award after Dyson Daniels won it last season — averaged 20.8 points, by far the most his career. Duren was a first-time NBA All-Star and averaged 19.5 points, almost double what he averaged last season despite playing basically the same amount of minutes.
Sixth man: Tim Hardaway Jr., Nuggets; Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami Heat; Keldon Johnson, Spurs. A first-time winner be the result no matter what. Jaquez averaged 15.4 points in 74 appearances off the bench, Johnson averaged 13.2 points — after playing in all 82 Spurs games as a reserve — and Hardaway also averaged 13.2 points in the 74 games where he came off Denver’s bench.
Coach: J.B. Bickerstaff, Pistons; Mitch Johnson, Spurs; Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics. Bickerstaff won the award from the National Basketball Coaches Association, selected by his peers, and is the likely favorite for the official NBA honor. Johnson and Mazzulla both led teams that widely exceeded most preseason expectations.
Rookie: VJ Edgecombe, 76ers; Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks; Kon Knueppel, Charlotte Hornets. This will likely be a two-person race in the end, with Flagg and Knueppel — both former Duke players — the presumed frontrunners. That would suggest Edgecombe likely finishes third.