Two of the top three players in the NBA will face each other Monday. The other, according to MVP voters, will be watching from the couch.

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic finished in second place in the 2025-26 MVP vote, the league announced Sunday night. In what was widely regarded as a three-horse race, Jokic was a distant runner-up but extended his streak of top-two finishes to six consecutive years, joining Bill Russell and Larry Bird as the only players to do so.

Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was crowned MVP for the second straight season. San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, just 22 years old, placed third. He was also named Defensive Player of the Year last month. The Spurs and Thunder are set to compete in the Western Conference Finals starting Monday night.

The award is decided by a panel of 100 voters who cover the NBA and its teams for various local, national and international media outlets. Jokic appeared on all 100 ballots, earning 10 first-place votes and 48 second-place nods. He was third on 37 ballots, fourth on four, fifth on one.

Gilgeous-Alexander received the lion’s share of the first-place votes with 83. Wembanyama got five votes for first. Ballots are submitted before the playoffs begin, ensuring that only the regular season is taken into account — meaning that Denver’s first-round exit had no bearing on the tally this year.

Jokic averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists per game, marking the seventh time in NBA history that a player has averaged a triple-double. Jokic, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson are the only players to accomplish the feat. Jokic has done it two seasons in a row.

He shot 56.9% from the field, 38% from 3-point range and 83.1% from the foul line, good for a 67% true shooting clip that ranked fifth in the league. At 66.5%, Gilgeous-Alexander was the only non-center to rank in the top eight. He averaged 31.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists for the defending champion and first-place Thunder.

Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever continued their 2026 WNBA regular season with an 89-78 victory against the Seattle Storm on Sunday, May 17.

‍ANCHORAGE — Southwest Airlines (WN) has launched its first-ever service to Alaska, beginning seasonal flights to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) from Denver International Airport (DEN) and Harry Reid International Airport (LAS).

The carrier scheduled Anchorage service to begin on May 15, 2026, with once-daily flights through the summer from both Denver and Las Vegas. Southwest’s booking site now markets Anchorage flights, with fares and connecting itineraries visible from multiple U.S. cities.

Southwest adds its 43rd state

Anchorage becomes Southwest’s 122nd airport and brings Alaska into the carrier’s domestic network as its 43rd U.S. state. The airline had announced the move in October 2025, describing Anchorage as one of several new 2026 destinations added as part of a broader network expansion.

The launch follows Southwest’s recent additions of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; Knoxville, Tennessee; Sint Maarten; and Santa Rosa/Sonoma County, California. Anchorage is the most geographically distinct of those additions, extending Southwest’s map into a market where air travel is unusually central to state connectivity.

Why anchorage matters

For Alaska, Southwest’s arrival adds another large U.S. carrier at ANC and increases competition on two important Lower 48 corridors. Alaska transportation officials framed the service as a boost for passenger choice, tourism, business travel, and broader state connectivity.

The Denver and Las Vegas launch points are also strategic. Denver gives Southwest a strong inland connecting point to much of its domestic network, while Las Vegas adds another high-volume leisure gateway. Together, the routes allow Southwest to test Alaska demand without immediately entering more crowded West Coast-to-Anchorage markets.

Part of a larger southwest reset

The Anchorage launch comes as Southwest continues to reshape both its network and onboard product. The airline has been rolling out assigned and premium seating, free Wi-Fi for Rapid Rewards members, and in-seat power on Boeing 737-8 aircraft as part of its redesigned cabin strategy.

That context matters. Anchorage is not just a novelty dot on the map; it is part of Southwest’s wider attempt to broaden vacation demand, strengthen connecting relevance, and enter markets that historically sat outside its traditional network profile.

Impacts

For travelers, the immediate impact is simple: Anchorage now has new seasonal nonstop options from Denver and Las Vegas, backed by Southwest’s large connecting network. For ANC, the service adds another national carrier during the peak summer travel window.

For Southwest, Alaska is a symbolic and strategic expansion. The carrier is moving beyond its old domestic playbook, adding more geographically ambitious destinations while modernizing the product around assigned seating, premium options, and loyalty benefits. The real test will be whether Anchorage performs strongly enough to return beyond the initial summer season.