NBA midseason awards picks: Experts choose MVP, DPOY, Rookie of the Year and more at halfway mark
As teams hit the 41-game mark, we're picking who's been the best of the best so far this season
The 65-game bar to be eligible for postseason awards is a tough one to clear. Everyone gets hurt now. There are all sorts of arguments as to why that is, and whether load management even helps, but in the end teams are going to rest guys and on top of that guys are going to get hurt. Miss a couple decently extended stretches, and you're basically out of contention.
This is why Nikola Jokić is not going to have a shot at his fourth MVP, and Victor Wembanyama is not going to win his first Defensive player of the Year, for which he would be the runaway favorite had he not already missed 14 games.
But we don't have to worry about the 65-game threshold today. Instead, us here at CBS Sports are making our midseason NBA awards picks. We're picking six major awards (MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, 6th Man of the Year and Most Improved Player) based off the basketball we've seen so far as teams hit the 41-game mark this week.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has the inside track on MVP, which would make him just the 16th player NBA history to have won multiple MVPs, and he's still only 27. SGA, however, was not a unanimous selection. In fact, there were no unanimous picks among the awards by our six experts.
The other awards are more debatable, and that's what we're here for. As we hit the halfway point of the 2025-26 season, our staff has selected who we believe to be the winner of each award at this point. This is not a prediction for what's going to happen over the second half, but simply who we believe deserves the award if votes were cast today.
MVP
| Award |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MVP | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Nikola Jokić | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander |
Defensive Player of the Year
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DPOY | Victor Wembanyama | Victor Wembanyama | Rudy Gobert | Chet Holmgren | Rudy Gobert | Rudy Gobert |
Rookie of the Year
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ROY | Cooper Flagg | Cooper Flagg | Kon Knueppel | Cooper Flagg | Cooper Flagg | Cooper Flagg |
Coach of the Year
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COY | Jordan Ott | J.B. Bickerstaff | Joe Mazzulla | Mitch Johnson | Joe Mazzulla | Joe Mazzulla |
Sixth Man of the Year
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6MOY | Keldon Johnson | Naz Reid | Isaiah Stewart | Naz Reid | Jaime Jaquez Jr. | Keldon Johnson |
Most Improved Player
| Award | | | | | | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MIP | Keyonte George | Deni Avdija | Deni Avdija | Deni Avdija | Keyonte George | Deni Avdija |
Expert explanations
Botkin: Victor Wembanyama is not going to win DPOY because he can only miss three more games the rest of the season, but to this point he's clearly the DPOY and until he's mathematically eliminated it'll stay that way. So why isn't Nikola Jokić the MVP if he's not mathematically eliminated yet? Because he's played six fewer games than SGA and the gap between the two is already razor thin.
Most Improved Player is interesting. Deni Advija is going to get a lot of votes because he's been unbelievable, but he was doing this over the final month-plus last season for the Blazers so I see this as more of an extension of that. George, on the other hand, is an entirely different player. He's upped his scoring by almost 50% (from 16.8 PPG to almost 24) and has done so not just by increasing his volume but with efficiency, particularly in the mid-range. George was a sub-starter level last season and this season he's an All-Star player, whether he actually makes the team or not.
Sixth Man of the Year is similarly interesting. Keldon Johnson is not the favorite, and I've watched the Spurs more than any other team this season so perhaps I'm biased -- but this guy has been awesome. Jaime Jaquez Jr. is a worthy pick as is Naz Reid, who carries Minnesota's thin bench, but Johnson's shooting efficiency, rebounding and defense gives him an edge, and I'm also factoring in team success. There are good bench players and there are guys who take over games for critical stretches, and Johnson is the latter.
Gonzalez: Before hurting his knee, Nikola Jokić was averaging nearly a 30-point triple double with 60.6/43.5/85.3 shooting splits. That's outrageous. He was on track to lead the league in both rebounds and assists per game, something that's never happened in NBA history. Sometimes we make these awards debates more difficult than necessary. Let's simplify it. Forget the MVP. Who's the best player in the world? Framed that way, I think you'd have a lot more people landing on one particular guy.
Victor Wembanyama, meanwhile, is the single best argument against the 65-game threshold for awards. Wemby is averaging 3.7 stocks (steals and blocks combined). No one else is close. He's also first in defensive estimated plus-minus by a considerable margin. But forget the stats. Watch almost any game on any given night and you'll see how his mere presence makes even the most aggressive opponents think twice about getting to the rim. Wemby stands alone in this category.
Sixth Man might've been the toughest award to pick. There are several deserving but imperfect candidates. Jaime Jaquez has had a nice bounce-back season but feels a little underwhelming here. Keldon Johnson has been terrific at times for the Spurs, but when they're fully healthy I'm not sure he's the best reserve on his own team (Julian Champagnie would like a word). Since late November, Anthony Black has filled it up for Orlando -- but he's also started a ton of games while Jalen Suggs has been on the mend. Ajay Mitchell is a star in waiting on a team already loaded with them. This feels like Naz Reid by default, if only because he's a consistent presence off the Wolves almost non-existent bench.
Herbert: I had Nikola Jokić as the MVP before his injury, but it was close enough that SGA's six extra games played give him the edge. By that logic, I couldn't possibly give DPOY to Victor Wembanyama, even though he's the league's best defender. While I considered a few alternatives, I landed on Gobert, whose defensive impact has been undeniable.
ROY is the best race going, and I went with Kon Knueppel despite Cooper Flagg having more on-ball responsibility. Knueppel's efficiency and decision-making under pressure have been out of this world, and his 3-point percentage above expected (i.e. the difference between his actual accuracy and how an average shooter would be expected to fare on the same attempts) is identical to Stephen Curry's.
COY was, despite a long list of worthy candidates, an easy call. The Celtics are more than the sum of their parts in every way, and Mazzulla's coaching staff deserves credit for not only helping the young players grow but continuing to develop the veterans. That they are No. 2 in offense is astounding. Sixth Man may be the most crowded field of the bunch. I went with an unconventional candidate but, in my view, a deserving one. It's not the Bench Scorer of the Year award, and Stewart has been a dominant interior defender in Detroit. And for MIP, I went with the guy who has absolutely ascended as Portland's primary playmaker. Avdija has become a legit star.
Kalland: The first three award choices aren't particularly difficult for me. MVP at this point feels like a foregone conclusion provided SGA stays healthy. DPOY is getting closer with Rudy Gobert producing another fantastic year in Minnesota, but barring the bottom falling out for OKC, what Holmgren's doing (putting up similar numbers in terms of field goal percentage differential) for the league's best defense should win him the award. And then as good as Kon Kneuppel has been, Flagg has been just a bit better and is having to carry a Dallas team that was supposed to provide him with a lot more help than he's been getting.
The final three awards are much more interesting to debate. For COY, I'm rolling with Mitch Johnson because what he's done in extracting the absolute most out of this Spurs team, even when Wemby has been injured, has been spectacular. He has young guys playing like veterans and veterans buying into whatever role he's asking them to play. He's navigated star absences, managed egos and has this Spurs team looking like a legitimate threat in the West ahead of schedule, which has him just ahead of J.B. Bickerstaff in my book. Sixth man is also going to be hotly contested, but what Naz Reid does in Minnesota night in and night out is critical for a team that doesn't have a ton in the way of depth. And for MIP, I know Deni Avdija started to put up big numbers late last year, but that was in the context of a team with nothing really to play for. This year, the Blazers are in the thick of the Play-In Tournament race and teams are now game-planning for Avdija as the lead star and he's still producing at a ridiculous rate. There are a handful of deserving candidates, but he's gone from good starter to legitimate All-Star, and that's an incredibly hard leap to make and is deserving of recognition.
Maloney: While Victor Wembanyama is clearly the best defensive player in the league, I can't give him the mid-season DPOY nod when he's only played in 64% of the Spurs' games, and has been on a minutes restriction in many of his appearances. Instead, I'll go with Rudy Gobert, who has once again been a monster for the Timberwolves. Per databallr, which removes low leverage minutes from the equation, the Timberwolves have a 108.2 defensive rating when Gobert is on the floor and a 123.9 defensive rating when he sits.
Rookie of the Year goes to Flagg. Up until a few weeks ago I would have given Kon Knueppel the nod, but Flagg has pulled ahead of him. There are a number of worthy choices for Coach of the Year, including JB Bickerstaff and Jordan Ott, but I'll take Joe Mazzulla, who has a Celtics team that everyone expected to take a gap year in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Sixth Man of the Year likewise has many deserving candidates, including 2024 winner Naz Reid and Spurs spark plug Keldon Johnson. However, I'm going with Jaime Jaquez Jr. due to his all-around contributions for the Heat as a scorer and playmaker. Finally, Keyonte George is my MIP pick. Deni Avdija and Jalen Johnson are the betting favorites, but they were both already good last season. George was on his way to bust status and now is making an All-Star case.
Quinn: Victor Wembanyama may technically still be eligible to win Defensive Player of the Year, but he's missed 14 of San Antonio's 39 games. That's 36% of its season. He's the best per-minute defender in the world, but when someone has missed more than a third of his team's season, I'm not going to pick him to win an award this significant. If he misses three or fewer games the rest of the way and is eligible at the end of the year? I'm happy to revisit his candidacy. For now, I'm going with Rudy Gobert who, aside from a one-game suspension stemming from his sixth flagrant foul point, has not missed a game all season. After taking a slight step back last season, Gobert has quietly posted his second best block rate in four seasons in Minnesota. His rebounding remains stellar, he contests the fifth-most shots per game in the NBA, and the Timberwolves fall off of a cliff defensively whenever he sits. He's not better than Wembanyama, but I'd rather have him every night than Wembanyama most of them.
The other five awards were relatively straightforward. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has run away with MVP now that Nikola Jokić is injured. Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel are in the middle of a fierce Rookie of the Year race, but I'm taking the better all-around player in Flagg. I'm not sure Keldon Johnson has missed a shot all season. Joe Mazzulla has a team we assumed would take a gap year in the thick of the Eastern Conference race. Deni Avdija is posting All-Star scoring numbers while serving as Portland's point guard, keeping the Blazers afloat offensively when injuries easily could have doomed their season.
