NBA GMs overwhelmingly pick Thunder
to repeat as champions, Jokic for MVP
[October 10, 2025]
NEW YORK (AP) — NBA general managers overwhelmingly expect the
Oklahoma City Thunder to be the league's first repeat champion in
nearly a decade, while Denver's Nikola Jokic is their pick to
reclaim the MVP award and Miami's Erik Spoelstra was once again the
pick as best coach.
Those were among the findings of the league's annual preseason
polling of general managers, the results of which were released
Thursday.
The Thunder got 80% of the vote — teams could not vote for
themselves or their own personnel in the survey — in response to the
question of which team would win this season's title. No team has
gone back-to-back since Golden State in 2016-17 and 2017-18.
Cleveland and Denver each got 7% of the vote, while Houston and New
York each 3%.
MVP
The GMs were clear: They expect another international player to be
MVP — players born outside the U.S. have won each of the last seven
MVP trophies — and Jokic is the overwhelming pick to win what would
be his fourth in a span of six seasons.
He got 67% of the vote, followed by Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles
Lakers (10%), reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City
(8%), and Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs (7%).
Top 4 seeds
If the GMs are to be believed, the top four playoff seeds in the
Eastern Conference will be, in order, Cleveland, New York, Orlando
and Atlanta.
In the West, Oklahoma City was followed by Denver, Houston and
Minnesota.
Best at their position
Gilgeous-Alexander (73%) was the runaway pick as best point guard,
with Minnesota's Anthony Edwards (70%) the top pick at shooting
guard, Doncic (40%) the best small forward, Milwaukee's Giannis
Antetokounmpo (93%) the top votegetter at power forward and Jokic
(97%) was the pick of almost everyone at center.
The Nuggets couldn't vote for Jokic; by process of elimination, that
means Denver's vote for best center likely went to Wembanyama, since
he was the only other player to receive a vote as the best center.
And the best pure shooter was nearly unanimous: Golden State's
Stephen Curry (93%) got almost all votes, with his former Warriors
teammate Klay Thompson — now with Dallas — getting the other 7%.
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Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander poses for a
photo during the NBA basketball team's media day, Monday, Sept. 29,
2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)
Curry was also the pick as best leader, and the
player GMs would want taking the shot with the outcome of a game
hanging in the balance.
Most improved team
The GMs expect to see big jumps from Orlando (47%) and Atlanta
(20%), making those clubs two of the top three votegetters when
asked which team will be improved the most this season.
San Antonio tied Atlanta, getting 20% of the voting.
Rookie of the year
To no surprise, No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg of Dallas was the pick to
win rookie of the year. Flagg got 97% of the vote, likely meaning 29
of the 30 if all teams submitted an answer.
The only other player to get a vote was Philadelphia's VJ Edgecombe
(3%).
Best defensive player
Again, no surprise: Wembanyama got 80% of the vote, with Minnesota's
Rudy Gobert and Cleveland's Evan Mobley (7%) a distant second.
Wembanyama was widely picked as the favorite to win defensive player
of the year last season before he was shut down in February
following a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis.
Best coach
Spoelstra once again was picked as the best coach in the league,
getting 52% of the vote. Oklahoma City's Mark Daigneault (34%) was
second.
Spoelstra was the narrow choice as best manager or motivator of
people as well, his 28% of the vote there barely edging Houston's
Ime Udoka (24%), Golden State's Steve Kerr (14%) and Boston's Joe
Mazzulla (14%).
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