Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has three MVP wins and two runner-up finishes across the past five NBA campaigns. So, it's saying a lot that he's having the best statistical start of his much-celebrated career in 2025-26.
He's averaging 29.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 11.1 assists through 17 games this season, with league-leading marks in the latter two categories. He is making 70% of his 2-point attempts and 43% of his 3s, and he has triple-doubles in more than half of his outings, all while keeping the 13-4 Nuggets high in the crowded Western Conference standings.
But it's not just Jokic. While the Nuggets big man is on pace to shatter his own record in single-season player efficiency rating (PER), two other MVP winners -- the Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander -- also are eclipsing that mark.
Among 96 players in NBA history who have averaged at least 30 points per game in a season, according to Stathead, Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander and Antetokounmpo currently rank first, second and fourth, respectively, in true shooting percentage as of Monday morning. Only Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry's 2015-16 season -- when he won the only unanimous MVP in league history -- breaks up the 2025-26 trio's sweep of the top spots.
As their superb seasons continue, let's examine the scorching stats for Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Los Angeles Lakers' Luka Doncic, plus what these hot starts might mean for the developing 2025-26 MVP race:
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Jokic's splendid start
Historic ascensions of SGA, Giannis, Luka
MVP race ramifications
Jokic's splendid start
To place Jokic's start in context, I'll first use a statistic designed to measure production in a small sample: game score, which encapsulates a player's entire box score in a single number. Game scores have been tracked since the 1983-84 season, rewarding players for positive contributions (such as points, steals and assists) while penalizing them for negative statistics (including missed shots and turnovers). The final number is roughly on the same scale as points -- so a game score above 30 is great, a game score of 20 is good and so on.
Jokic's average game score this season is 31.8, the highest for any player on record through 17 games. Jokic also set the previous record of 30.5 last season; before that, it belonged to Michael Jordan from his 1988-89 campaign.
Jokic's 2023-24 season also places him fifth on the game score leaderboard through 17 games. In other words, Jokic's past three campaigns represent three of the five best starts to a season for any player since game score was first tracked.
One reason for Jokic's extraordinary game score average is his efficiency, because he doesn't face many penalties for missed shots. Consider his astonishing 70% mark on 2-pointers, for example: The previous 2-point percentage record for players with at least 10 attempts per game was Wilt Chamberlain's 68% in 1966-67. (Here too, Jokic has two other seasons in the top five of this leaderboard.)
Jokic's raw numbers also lift him in the game score leaderboard. His averages of 29.6 points, 12.8 rebounds and 11.1 assists per game mean that half of his performances are that productive or better. For reference, only two other Nuggets players in history have any games with at least 30, 13 and 11: Fat Lever in 1988 and Alex English in 1982. Not that long ago, the entire NBA didn't have any 30/13/11 games from January 2011 to February 2015.
Remarkably, Jokic has never led the league in a big counting stat over a full season. But through the first month this season, he's at the top of the rebound and assist leaderboards -- giving him the chance to achieve yet another milestone. No player has ever led the NBA in rebounds and assists per game in different seasons, let alone at the same time, as Jokic is on track to do this season. He finished second in assists and third in rebounds last season -- the closest any player has come to that unprecedented double since: Jokic, who finished second in rebounds and third in assists in 2022-23.
The last time a player came close until Jokic was in 1967-68, when Chamberlain won the rebounding title but finished as the runner-up in assists. (Chamberlain actually led the league in total assists that season because he played all 82 games, but Oscar Robertson had a higher per-game average in his 65 games.)
Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo and Doncic's historic ascensions
While no other player this season is setting records quite like Jokic, a few other superstars are not far behind.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who usurped Jokic for the 2024-25 MVP, has an average game score of 28.1, the fifth-highest mark on record through 18 games. Antetokounmpo had a 29.3 game score through 12 games -- the fourth highest on record -- before he injured his groin. And Doncic's 28.1 game score ranks sixth all time through 12 games.
In other words, the top four players this season have all had among the best statistical starts to a season in more than 40 years.
Among Jokic's competitors for the MVP award, Gilgeous-Alexander has the best volume because of his health. The defending MVP, Finals MVP and scoring champion has registered 32.2 points per game, career-high efficiency numbers and a career-low turnover rate, all while leading his team to a 17-1 record and a plus-16.9 point differential.
Gilgeous-Alexander is pouring in so many points despite rarely playing in the fourth quarter, thanks to all of the Thunder's blowout wins against an admittedly soft schedule; he has the second-most points in the first quarter of games, the most points in the second quarter and the most points in the third quarter -- but ranks 69th in points in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, even though Antetokounmpo's per-game stats have been dragged down by his most recent appearance -- when he played just 13 minutes before departing due to injury -- he is still averaging 31.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists. This would be his third consecutive season averaging at least 30/10/6; other than Jokic this season, such a feat has been accomplished only three other times in NBA history (twice by Robertson and once by Russell Westbrook).
And Antetokounmpo is still improving. His playmaking continues to progress. And because he is taking a career-high 73% of his shots at the rim this season, per Cleaning the Glass, he's enjoying career-best efficiency numbers.
Finally, Doncic leads the league in scoring with 34.5 points per game. Despite an aberrantly low 31% mark from distance, he's shooting a career-high 61% on 2-pointers and leading the league in free throw makes (9.9 per game) and attempts (12.5 per game). Add in his standard 8.9 assists and 8.8 rebounds per game, and his numbers would make him the clear MVP favorite in just about any season before this newly competitive age of hyper-efficient, hyper-productive stars.
What this might mean for the MVP race
The season is only a month old, so regression will likely bring these statistical outliers somewhat back to the pack. For instance, Jokic is shooting well above his previous career highs at the rim, from floater range and on long midrange attempts, so that 70% mark on 2-pointers probably won't stay so high. His league-leading assist average also could fall in the coming weeks, as teammates Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon miss extended periods because of injuries.
Gilgeous-Alexander's numbers could decline as Oklahoma City's schedule toughens; the Thunder have faced the second-easiest slate of opposing defenses for any team, according to analytical site Dunks & Threes. Antetokounmpo could stumble if the effects of his groin injury -- from which he could return soon -- hamper his ability to so thoroughly dominate defenders around the rim. And Doncic's league-leading usage rate could decline as he shares the court with both breakout star Austin Reaves and the recently returned LeBron James.
But it's also possible that four players with such excellent track records continue to produce at approximately their current pace, so dreams of a fiercely contested MVP race between these stars enjoying historically dominant seasons are alive and well.
After all, Jokic's historic start doesn't mean his fourth MVP trophy is preordained. He didn't win MVP last season, when he had the previous best statistical start to a campaign; and neither did Jordan in 1988-89, when Magic Johnson won in a close vote instead.
And the competition this season could be extraordinary. Based on the top quartet's current trajectories, the 2025-26 MVP race could pit:
A three-time MVP, Jokic, who is tops in the league in rebounds and assists, averages 30 points per game and leads his team to 60-plus wins
A one-time MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander, who scores 32 super-efficient points per game for the team that sets the single-season wins record -- essentially a repeat of Curry's unanimous MVP season
A two-time MVP, Antetokounmpo, who posts better counting stats and efficiency numbers than in either of his previous MVP campaigns
A star guard, Doncic, who averages a triple-double of nearly 35 points per game
These four owe some of their statistical supremacy to their era. Pace and efficiency are both up this season, and teams are averaging 117.1 points per game, up from 113.8 last season. Thus, 2025-26 is on pace to be the highest-scoring season since the 1960s, when lofty point totals helped produce such memorable per-game stat lines as Robertson's triple-double and Chamberlain's 50.4 points.
Moreover, today's best offensive players are prone to greater all-around dominance than in previous generations. Triple-doubles have never been more common than they are now, and the rate of individual 30-game scoring performances has more than doubled since the mid-2010s.
Even amid that context, however, the foursome of Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo and Doncic stands out, head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Victor Wembanyama is rising, and established stars such as Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell are firmly in All-NBA territory once again. But as appeared to be the case at the start of the season, there's still a wide chasm between the NBA's top four players and the rest of its player pool.
