The Time Might Be Right for Jayson Tatum to Chase MVP

WASHINGTON — Jayson Tatum dropped his long held focus to win NBA MVP last year. In the past, he admitted it was among the goals for his career. With so much built up in Boston winning the 2024 championship, he began stressing team over individual accomplishment.

That changed slightly on Thursday with ring in hand after another runaway win where he and his fellow starters took a seat early in the fourth quarter. Despite only playing about six quarters to that point, Tatum averaged 31.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game while shooting 60.5% from the field and 50% from three in the Celtics’ first two games. He posted 37 points on 12-of-26 shooting (6-13 3PT) in 38 minutes at Detroit, closing the win with go-ahead free throws and a fallaway jumper that slammed the door.

That production placed him alongside Luka Dončić and Anthony Davis as the earliest of MVP favorites.

“As a kid, you set a lot of goals for yourself. I’ve been very fortunate enough to check off a lot of boxes of things that I wanted to accomplish, things that my favorite players accomplished,” Tatum said on Thursday. “Saying that MVP is important to me is not in a way taking away from the success of our team. Every guy that’s ever won MVP has been on a championship contending team. If you’re an MVP, you’re dominating, you’re efficient, you’re playing the right way and you’re impacting winning. You can do both. Championship is the most important, but being the best version of yourself along the way is important as well.”

Tatum fell out of MVP favor after similarly emerging as a leader through the first quarter of the last two seasons. Boston’s team success drove those cases, then chipped away at them later in the year when Jaylen Brown emerged as a fellow All-NBA player in 2023 and the 2024 Celtics proved the most talented roster in the league. He fell to sixth in the voting last year after finishing fourth in 2023. It’s too soon to forecast where this race goes.

Mainstays in the debate like Nikola Jokić, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Dončić will continue challenging Tatum’s ability to secure the 2025 award. Yet his start, a compelling narrative and an obviously improved shot create a real opportunity for the Celtics star. And he’s never had a start quite like this.

Boston’s 12-3 record early in 2022-23 came closest behind Tatum’s 31.3 PPG on 48.1% shooting with 7.4 RPG, 4.1 APG and 1.7 BPG. Shooting slides to 46.1% from the field and 34.5% from three through the rest of the schedule dropped him to sixth in scoring — out of the race despite the Celtics’ second-best 57-25 record.

“I think I am [worthy of the MVP discussion],” Tatum said then. “It’s a long season. Every time I step on the floor, I feel like I’m the best player. But it’s a lot of talented guys in this league … If it happened, it would be a dream come true. But it wasn’t, like, ‘Come back, win MVP.’ It’s like, ‘Come back, get to the championship.’”

Tatum’s accomplishments now include champion, five all-star appearances with an All-Star Game MVP, three straight All-NBA First Team recognitions since 2022 and he tied the single-game Celtics scoring record with a 60-point explosion against the Spurs in 2021. He scored the seventh-most points ever by a player before turning 26, the most by a Celtic, and hit the most threes by an NBA player that young. In the spring, he passed Kobe Bryant for most career playoff points before turning 27.

Dončić, who lost to Tatum in the Finals in June, is also searching for his first MVP after building a similar résumé early in his career. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kobe, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became MVPs after emerging as one of the league’s great young scorers. Carmelo Anthony and Tracy McGrady did not, while the award has also eluded Davis and Devin Booker. Bob McAdoo won it in 1975, as did Kevin Garnett in 2004. Dwight Howard came close for four straight years in his prime.

Tatum becoming an all-timer while never having every thing fall into place to win MVP isn’t out of the question. Getting even one before he’s done could place him among a small number of the greatest players ever. The environment might be right to do it now.

It’ll require crafting a unique case tied to his team’s success as one of the most versatile players in the league who might not excel the most at any single category. See: Tim Duncan in 2003, who only led the league in win shares to secure a second straight MVP. The more I think about Tatum’s master of none game, Duncan’s overarching impact on the game to lead a loaded team keeps coming to mind. While Tatum isn’t the all-time defender Duncan was, his three-point shot, at its best, can reach the highest echelons of the league.