And-Ones: MVP Race, No. 1 Pick, Peterson, P. Gasol
Reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains the favorite to claim the award again in 2025/26, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, who recently conducted his second MVP straw poll. The Thunder guard was the only player to appear on all 100 ballots and accumulated 930 points.
Injuries to top players have significantly impacted the MVP race this season, Bontemps writes, as multiple contenders for the award may not qualify due to the 65-game rule. Despite being sidelined with an abdominal strain, Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t in imminent danger of not meeting that threshold — he’ll likely have 10 total missed games when he’s reevaluated later this week.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic remains in second place (700 points), but the gap between the two players has grown since Bontemps’ initial poll in December. That’s largely because the three-time MVP missed 15 games because of a knee injury and can’t have more than two additional absences without becoming ineligible for major postseason awards.
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (382 points) and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama (242 points) were the only other players to receive first-place votes. Lakers guard Luka Doncic (177 points) rounds out the top five of Bontemps’ poll.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- How much would the No. 1 overall pick in the loaded 2026 NBA draft be worth if it were available in an auction? Brian Windhorst of ESPN briefly discussed that topic on the Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to RealGM). “I was talking to a league executive today and he said to me, this is after Darryn Peterson had 23 points in 18 minutes and after we’ve seen some other top guys have big time games over the last four or five days,” Windhorst said. “… I had an executive tell me that the No. 1 pick this year is worth $100 million. If you gave the opportunity to buy that pick, teams would pay $100 million for it. Keep that in mind when the Jazz were fined $500,000.”
- Although Peterson’s sporadic for Kansas this season has undoubtedly been frustrating for him, the school, and its fans, his health issues are unlikely to have much of an effect on the 19-year-old guard’s standing as a top prospect in the 2026 draft class, per Brendan Marks and Justin Williams of The Athletic. “He’s elite, elite, elite,” one NBA scout told The Athletic. “When he’s fully healthy, the shot-making is on another level. … When it comes down to it, man, if you’ve seen this guy play in high school, and you saw those matchups, like, Darryn is the guy. For sure.”
- Hall of Famer Pau Gasol has been selected by Olympic athletes to represent them on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) board through the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press.
SGA, Mitchell, J-Dub Remain Out For Thunder
Superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is still recovering from his abdominal strain, the Thunder announced on Thursday.
According to the team, the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player will be checked out again in about a week, which means he’s likely to be sidelined for at least four more games. Gilgeous-Alexander sustained the injury on February 3 and missed Oklahoma City’s final five contests before the All-Star break.
2024 second-round pick Ajay Mitchell, who is having a breakout second season for the Thunder, will also be reexamined in one week, per the team. The 23-year-old guard last played on Jan. 21, having missed 11 consecutive games due to an abdominal strain and left ankle sprain.
Star forward Jalen Williams, who aggravated his right hamstring strain in a Feb. 11 victory at Phoenix, is out at least two more weeks, the Thunder added. The 24-year-old wing missed 10 games because of his initial hamstring strain and, returned to action just before the break, then re-injured the strain in his second game back.
Williams, whose 2025/26 debut was delayed due to a pair of surgeries on his right wrist, will be out at least eight more games. He also missed the team’s final contest before the break.
After a remarkable 24-1 start to the season, the defending champion Thunder have looked a little more mortal over the past several weeks, going 18-13 over their past 31 games. They’re currently 42-14, which is the top record in the Western Conference and the second-best mark in the NBA (the Pistons are 40-13).
And-Ones: Toppin, All-Star Saturday, Bailey, Storylines
JT Toppin, the standout junior forward at Texas Tech, has suffered an ACL tear in his right knee, the school announced in a press release. The injury, which occurred during Tuesday’s loss to Arizona State, will end Toppin’s season and jeopardize his availability for 2026/27 as well, given the typical recovery timeline for a torn ACL.
It’s a brutal blow for Toppin, who was a consensus second-team All-American last season and was in the conversation for NCAA Player of the Year in 2025/26. He had averaged 21.8 points, an NCAA-best 10.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.4 steals in 34.8 minutes per game through his first 25 outings this season.
Toppin was projected to be a second-round pick in the 2026 draft in the latest mocks published by ESPN and Bleacher Report, but the Red Raiders star may be in no hurry to go pro this spring as he embarks on an extended rehabilitation period.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA and NBC, the league’s new broadcasting partner for All-Star weekend, were happy with the changes made to Sunday’s event, according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. However, the network is expected to pitch ideas to the league to spice up Saturday’s festivities, as NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood confirms. “On the NBC side, we’re thinking if there’s another element that could be added that would make Saturday even more of a showcase for the players,” Flood said. According to McCarthy, one option expected to be discussed is adding a fourth event such as a 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 tournament.
- Former second-round pick Amari Bailey, who is looking to become the first player to return to the NCAA after playing in NBA games, apparently hasn’t been discouraged by a recent court ruling against Charles Bediako. Bailey recently made a visit to Grand Canyon and is expected to visit additional schools in the coming weeks, according to Joe Tipton of On3 (Twitter link), who hears from the guard’s NIL representatives that over a dozen schools have expressed interest in him.
- Panels of NBA reporters at ESPN and The Athletic preview some of the most compelling storylines to follow in the second half of the 2025/26 season, including which teams will emerge as the biggest threats to stop the Thunder from repeating as champions and the most compelling award races. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo look ahead to the 2026 offseason and predict which NBA subplots will dominate headlines this summer.
- Zach Harper of The Athletic checks in on this season’s frontrunners for All-NBA recognition and says Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama, Cade Cunningham, and Jaylen Brown would make up his first team right now.
Northwest Notes: Holmgren, SGA, CP3, Murray, Lillard
Rockets star Kevin Durant has grown close to Thunder big man Chet Holmgren over the years because they share a similar mindset, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscriber link).
“He wants to be great,” Durant told The Oklahoman. “It’s that simple. A lot of people don’t want to be great. They don’t want to leave their mark and have their name etched in stone with some of the greats in this league. He wants that. Every time he approaches his work, it’s that mentality. … His mindset is really what stood out to me.”
Holmgren, who will make his first All-Star appearance on Sunday, has always been ambitious but has learned to put individual statistics to the side in support of the team.
“I’ve played long enough and I have an understanding that when you try to force your way to things that aren’t a win, one, it usually hurts your team,” Holmgren said. “And two, a lot of times you don’t end up winning. … I still think I have to be aggressive, but it has to be within making the right play.”
We have have more from around the Northwest:
- At his media session on Saturday, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander discussed the impact Chris Paul had on his career (Twitter links courtesy of Martinez). The legendary point guard, who played one year with Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City, announced his retirement on Friday after he was waived by Toronto. “Chris was special for my career,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Off the court, he was the first person that I was around to really take care of their body and show me the importance of the weight room. … He was the first point guard that I studied. … He was the standard for a point guard. And obviously, fast forward a couple of years, he’s one of my closest friends. … Honestly, it’s sad the way it’s happened. I thought he would get his flowers a little bit differently, but that’ll never change what he’s done for this game. I’m proud of him. He’s been special. Hopefully I can get to that level of mastering the game of basketball.”
- Nuggets legends Alex English and Dan Issel think Jamal Murray‘s first All-Star appearance was long overdue, per Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “He should have been an All-Star before now, but I think part of the explanation is that he’s playing with the greatest player on the planet,” Issel said. “And I think that usurps, sometimes, what a great player he is. But when he needs to, he also steps up. … I don’t know that they’d be a championship-caliber team — it would depend who else was with Jamal — but I think he would be very successful if he was on a team where he was the No. 1 scoring option.”
- For his part, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic hopes to play with Murray for the rest of his career, Durando adds. “I would love it,” Jokic said, “just because it’s so good when you know who you’re playing with. He cannot really surprise me. I know what he can do. So the experience of playing probably 10 years definitely helps. But I don’t want to change him, if they ask me.”
- Damian Lillard‘s victory at the three-point contest — his third title in four years — doesn’t mean he’ll attempt to come back from his torn Achilles this season, according to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link). “I think if this was five years ago, I probably would have won this competition and been like, ‘I think I can get out there and go,’” the Trail Blazers guard said. “But I think I’m also at an age and time of my life where I recognize those emotions are not in my best interest. That’s kind of where it’s at.”
Alperen Sengun Named To Second Straight All-Star Game
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has named Rockets center Alperen Sengun as an injury replacement for the 2026 All-Star game, the league announced today (via Twitter).
Sengun will replace Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Team World. The reigning MVP is dealing with an abdominal strain that will sideline him through the All-Star break.
It’s the second straight All-Star appearance for Sengun, who is in his fifth NBA season. The Turkish big man has made 44 appearances thus far in 2025/26, averaging 20.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 block in 34.0 minutes per game, with a shooting slash line of .496/.298/.693.
The All-Star game is technically a mini-tournament this year, not an individual game. Three teams will play each other once apiece in 12-minute games, with the top two teams from round-robin play advancing to the championship.
The full list of all the 2026 All-Stars and the teams they’re on can be found here. J.B. Bickerstaff (Pistons), Mitch Johnson (Spurs) and Darko Rajakovic (Raptors) will coach the three teams.
SGA Sustains Abdominal Strain, Out At Least Five Games
Reigning MVP and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strained an abdominal muscle in Tuesday’s win over Orlando and will be reevaluated after the All-Star break, the Thunder announced today.
Oklahoma City plays five more games prior to the break, and the superstar guard will miss all of them due to the injury. The earliest Gilgeous-Alexander could return would be February 20 vs. Brooklyn.
Gilgeous-Alexander played 28 minutes in Tuesday’s blowout victory, recording 20 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals.
The 27-year-old Canadian has had another MVP-caliber season in 2025/26, averaging 31.8 points, 6.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals on an elite .554/.390/.892 shooting line in 49 games (33.3 minutes per contest).
Gilgeous-Alexander has only missed two games to this point, but that total will increase to at least seven due to the abdominal strain. Unless his absence extends well beyond the All-Star break, he’s not in danger of falling short of the 65-game requirement for award eligibility, though an All-Star replacement will presumably need to be named.
The defending champion Thunder are currently 40-11, the best record in the NBA. Ajay Mitchell, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and impending addition Jared McCain are all candidates for more minutes with Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams (hamstring strain) both sidelined.
Team Rosters For All-Star Game Revealed
The rosters for the three-team 2026 All-Star Game were revealed by the NBA on Tuesday night (Twitter link).
The USA Stars, coached by the Pistons’ J.B. Bickerstaff, will be made up of the following eight players:
Scottie Barnes- Devin Booker
- Cade Cunningham
- Jalen Duren
- Anthony Edwards
- Chet Holmgren
- Jalen Johnson
- Tyrese Maxey
The USA Stripes, coached by the Spurs’ Mitch Johnson, will have the following roster:
- Jaylen Brown
- Jalen Brunson
- Stephen Curry
- Kevin Durant
- LeBron James
- Kawhi Leonard
- Donovan Mitchell
- Norman Powell
The World team, coached by the Raptors’ Darko Rajakovic, will feature these nine players:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Luka Doncic
- Deni Avdija
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- Nikola Jokic
- Jamal Murray
- Pascal Siakam
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Victor Wembanyama
The U.S. All-Stars were assigned to teams based on age, with the younger group placed on USA Stars and the older group placed on USA Stripes. Team World is composed of international players.
The format for the Feb. 15 event consists of a round-robin mini-tournament with four 12-minute games. The matchups are as follows:
- Game 1: USA Stars vs. World
- Game 2: USA Stripes vs. winning team of Game 1
- Game 3: USA Stripes vs. losing team of Game 1
- Game 4: Championship (top two teams from round-robin play)
If all three teams finish 1-1 after the round-robin games, the first tiebreaker will be point differential across each team’s two games.
Luka Doncic, Jaylen Brown Named Players Of The Month
Lakers guard Luka Doncic has been named the NBA’s Player of the Month for the Western Conference, while Celtics wing Jaylen Brown has won the award in the East, the league announced today (Twitter link).
The Lakers were 9-6 in games Doncic played in January, and the All-Star guard increased his league-leading scoring average by racking up 34.0 points per game in those 15 outings. He posted a shooting line of .506/.392/.747 for the month while also contributing 9.1 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per night.
Doncic had four 30-point triple-doubles in January, capped by a 37-point, 13-assist, 11-rebound outing in Washington to wrap up the month last Friday. It’s the sixth Player of the Month award of his career and his first since he became a Laker almost exactly one year ago.
Brown’s career year continued in January as he led the Celtics to a 9-5 record in the 14 games he played, averaging 29.2 PPG, 7.9 RPG, and 4.6 APG. The 29-year-old matched a career high by scoring 50 points in a win over the Clippers on January 3, then had a 27-point triple-double in a double-overtime victory in Brooklyn on Jan. 23.
While his teammate Jayson Tatum has racked up five Player of the Month awards over the course of his career, this is the first time Brown has earned the honor.
Brown beat out fellow nominees Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell of the Heat, Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, Sixers center Joel Embiid, Hornets forward Brandon Miller, Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, and Pacers forward Pascal Siakam for the January award, per the NBA (Twitter link).
The other Western Conference nominees were Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, Rockets forward Kevin Durant, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.
Dillon Brooks, Brandon Miller Earn Player Of Week Honors
Suns forward Dillon Brooks and Hornets forward Brandon Miller have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the league (Twitter links).
Brooks led his team to a 3-1 record during the week of January 26 to February 1 while averaging 28.8 points per game on 54.5 percent shooting from three-point range. He also averaged 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists during those four contests, which included victories by double-digits over the Pistons and Cavaliers.
Miller averaged 26.3 points in just 29.8 minutes per game as the Hornets enjoyed a 4-0 week capped by a win over San Antonio The third-year wing shot 50 percent from three-point range, grabbed 5.8 rebounds per game, and made all 25 of his free throw attempts en route to his first ever Player of the Week award.
Besides being named Player of the Week for the first time in their respective careers, Brooks and Miller are each became the first player from his team to earn the honor this season.
Brooks beat out a handful of stars for the weekly awards. Luka Doncic (Lakers), Kevin Durant (Rockets), Anthony Edwards (Timberwolves), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder) and Kawhi Leonard (Clippers) were the other Western Conference nominees.
Jarrett Allen (Cavaliers), OG Anunoby and Josh Hart (Knicks), Cade Cunningham (Pistons), Joel Embiid (Sixers) and Aaron Nesmith (Pacers) were also nominated in the East.
Luka Doncic, Immanuel Quickley Named Players Of Week
Lakers guard Luka Doncic and Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley have been named the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, according to the NBA (Twitter links). The award covers Week 14 of the season, from Jan. 19-25.
Doncic led his team to a 2-1 record last week by averaging 34.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists per contest. His best game came in Denver on Tuesday when he posted a 38-point triple-double in a road victory over the Nuggets. He also beat his former team in Dallas on Sunday en route to his second Player of the Week award of the season.
Quickley, who was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career, lifted the Raptors to four straight road victories by averaging 25.3 points on 61.1% shooting while contributing 6.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game. He matched a career high by racking up 40 points (on 11-of-13 shooting) in Tuesday’s win over Golden State.
Quickley’s name has popped up in rumors recently, with Toronto reportedly gauging his trade value.
Saddiq Bey (Pelicans), Kevin Durant (Rockets), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder), James Harden (Clippers) and Naji Marshall (Mavericks) were the other Player of the Week nominees from the Western Conference.
Bam Adebayo and Norman Powell (Heat), Jalen Duren (Pistons), Jalen Johnson (Hawks), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) and Coby White (Bulls) were also nominated for Eastern Conference recognition.