Here’s how the 2025 NBA Finals MVP is selected: Who votes?

The Oklahoma City Thunder host the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals tonight with the championship on the line. At the end of the game, the NBA Finals MVP will be announced.

The league MVP was decided already. Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earned the title for the regular season. And since then, he’s led OKC all the way to a title run. With the series tied at 3-3 and one game left to decide it all, SGA could win the NBA Finals MVP title as well if he can lead the Thunder to victory.

How the NBA Finals MVP is chosen

The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award is given to the best-performing player in the NBA Finals series - not the entire playoffs, just the Finals.

A panel of 11 members of the media - from journalists to broadcasters and analysts - attend the NBA Finals. Each one will select one player they believe was the most valuable to their team during the series. Unlike the regular-season MVP, there’s no ranking or point system. Rather, it’s a simple vote for one player.

There are no official guidelines on what the voters need to consider, but they usually examine these four factors:

• Statistical dominance (points, assists, rebounds, efficiency)
• Clutch performances (especially in key games or moments)
• Leadership and impact (on both ends of the floor)
• Consistency throughout the Finals series

The player with the most votes out of 11 wins the NBA Finals MVP. In the rare case of a tie (which hasn’t happened yet), the league would likely break it internally, but that’s purely hypothetical.

Players who won league and Finals MVP in the same season

Winning both the NBA MVP and the NBA Finals MVP in the same year is extremely rare, not to mention impressive. Only eight players have managed to do so throughout the history of the award. Michael Jordan is the only player to have done it multiple times (four). The most recent to have won both was Tim Duncan in 2003.

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