NBA to unveil MVP on Sunday, day before Thunder-Spurs series

The NBA will reveal this season’s MVP on Sunday, the day before Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the reigning MVP and one of the three finalists for the award this season, along with Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and Denver‘s Nikola Jokic. Amazon Prime Video announced that it would reveal the MVP winner Sunday during its pregame show, which starts at 7:30 p.m. ET.

No matter who wins, it will be the eighth consecutive season in which a player who was born outside the U.S. takes the MVP trophy.

This international run of MVPs started with Milwaukee‘s Giannis Antetokounmpo (born in Greece, of Nigerian descent) in 2019 and 2020, then Jokic (Serbia) in 2021 and 2022, Philadelphia‘s Joel Embiid (born in Cameroon but has since become a U.S. citizen) in 2023, Jokic again in 2024 and Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) last year.

Wembanyama would be the first French player to win MVP, and Jokic is seeking a fourth MVP, something only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan (five), Bill Russell (five), Wilt Chamberlain (four) and LeBron James (four) have done.

It will be the 12th MVP award overall for an international player. Before this current run, Nigeria’s Hakeem Olajuwon won in 1994, Canada’s Steve Nash won in 2005 and 2006, and Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki won in 2007.

The scheduling of the announcement could be a hint that Gilgeous-Alexander is the winner, because it would have the same timeframe as last year’s MVP reveal. In 2025, Gilgeous-Alexander was announced as the winner May 21, and he was formally presented with the trophy before Game 2 of the West finals in Oklahoma City on May 22.

This year, the Sunday announcement comes a day before the Thunder plays host to Game 1 of the West finals on Monday night.