Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the new Consensus Best Player Alive

Nikola Jokic is still in range. Victor Wembanyama is coming.

Good morning. Kawhi Leonard still hasn't planted any trees, huh? What has he been doing all summer? Let's basketball.

This time last year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – coming off his first NBA MVP and a Finals MVP – came within mere points of surpassing Nikola Jokic as the Consensus Best Player Alive according to a metric of that name I invented a couple years ago. The analytic resolution on that debate in that moment in time broadly matched the discourse, though obviously it's hard to get a consistent read on what everyone thinks about a relatively esoteric question.

That's the point of Consensus BPA: use hard data to assess that age-old question of who is the best player alive. The hard data in this case is a three-year weighted average of MVP voting, All-Star honors, All-NBA voting and postseason awards. All of those items are voted on by a group of folks close to the NBA who are largely responsible for creating consensus, primarily the media. All-Star voting leans on players, fans and coaches to a smaller degree; these audiences are also responsible for creating consensus. The weighting matters, of course; the inclusion of Conference Finals and Finals MVP bonuses are intended to reflect the consensus belief that playoff performance is an important determination in grading individual excellence, and the 3-year weighted average rewards consistency in a way that perhaps not all analysts would agree with.

But I think it checks out and passes the sniff test. Shai won a second straight MVP and was a unanimous first team All-NBA member. That makes it pretty clear that the consensus believes he is the best player alive. And Consensus BPA agrees. Here's the new top 10 after the conclusion of the 2025-26 season.