It’ll be an international MVP for the NBA with Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic and Wembanyama finalists

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander runs back on defense after making a basket during the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA playoffs basketball series against the Phoenix Suns, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings) 2026-04-19T22:29:55Z Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be adding a couple more trophies to his collection. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama has a shot at doing the same. And for the eighth consecutive year, the MVP will be an international one. Gilgeous-Alexander — the reigning NBA MVP — is one of the finalists for this year’s top individual honor, along with Denver’s Nikola Jokic and the Spurs’ Wembanyama, who is also a finalist for defensive player of the year. The NBA’s run of international MVPs started in 2019 and 2020 with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is of Greek and Nigerian descent. Jokic, a Serbian, won in 2021, 2022 and 2024. Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, who was born in Cameroon but since became a U.S. citizen, won the award in 2023, and Canada’s Gilgeous-Alexander won last year. 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 on Monday. The Defensive Player award — widely expected to be going to Wembanyama — comes out then, followed by Clutch Player on Tuesday and Sixth Man on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the appeal that got the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic onto the award ballots might earn him All-NBA, but did 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 Detroit’s Cade Cunningham 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. (