From The Sports Desk: NBA award picks

NBAFrom The Sports Desk: NBA award picksThe NBC News sports staff weighs in on the MVP race, Rookie of the Year and more.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Inglewood, Calif., on April 8, 2026.Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 15, 2026, 3:12 PM EDTBy Rohan Nadkarni, Andrew Greif, Tim Rohan and Greg RosensteinThe NBA regular season is over and the NBC News sports crew had some thoughts on the major awards races. We skipped the Defensive Player of the Year award — Victor Wembenyama seems to have that one wrapped up. But our teams dove into the tightly contested MVP, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved races below.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.We have more NBA Play-In Tournament games tonight, too. Throughout the NBA playoffs, we’ll have you covered here and, as always, on the NBC News website. MVPDenver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in San Antonio on April 12.Scott Wachter / Imagn ImagesBy Rohan Nadkarni, NBC News sports reporterI wonder if Denver’s Nikola Jokić would be running away with this award had he not already won three MVPs. Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a worthy choice here. So is the Lakers’ Luka Doncic. (I think Victor Wembenyama has played too few minutes.)But I think no player in the league carries more responsibility than the “Joker,” who certainly plays with talented teammates, but isn’t flanked by multiple All-Stars or multiple All-NBA level defenders like Gilgeous-Alexander.For the second straight season, Jokić belongs to a club that he created and of which he is the only member: Scoring at least 27 points per game, shooting over 55% from the field, while averaging at least 10 assists a night. He’s doing all that while leading the league in assists and rebounds. SGA certainly has a case, but in my opinion, not as strong of a case as Jokic.Andrew G...