How is it that Jayson Tatum has never finished in the top 3 for MVP voting? Over his 6 year career, he’s led his team to the ECF 4 times, with one Finals appearance. Also, the Celtics have secured the 2nd seed three times and the 3rd seed once. Given all this success since his debut, it baffles me that Tatum hasn’t come close to winning an MVP Honestly, if the Celtics clinch the 1st seed this year, he deserves to win MVP.
EDIT:
I’ve noticed comments pointing out that I’m emphasizing the team’s success over Tatum’s individual performance. While I believe individual performance is pivotal for MVP consideration, it’s not like Tatum’s been putting up subpar numbers. I genuinely believe his stats are MVP worthy. I’m not necessarily saying he should already have an MVP, but imo, he should’ve ranked above Giannis this past season. Giannis this past season lacked in defensive stats, coupled with a low FT% - especially given he’s one of the league’s top shooters in this category - and a high turnover rate. Add to that the fact that Tatum was available for 10 more games than Giannis. That’s just my opinion my lmk what you guys think!
I think Jayson Tatum is a very good player, but I think that the roster surrounding him has also been a key factor to his success, can Tatum carry a team like the 2022 nuggets to a six seed where all the help is missing? Can he carry a team like the 2019 Bucks to the ECF when his point guard is Eric Bledsoe. See the difference between an MVP caliber player is that they can change the outcome for an entire team alone, it is why you bring pieces together around that core player. In the Celtics case they have had a plethora of talent on the court alongside Tatum: Brown, Smart, Williams, Kemba, Kyrie, Horford, and the list goes on. This is no disrespect to Tatum either, he is a phenomenal player but if he were on any other team that was not Boston he might just be a guy like Bradley Beal on the Wizards who can score and be a bottom tiered team.
He had his chance at proving all the hype around him in 2022, but to fall apart the way he did in the Finals just proved he is not at that level yet. Also remember that Jaylen Brown exists on the team and put up 26/7/3 last season and has been an amazing second option on the Celtics. He is not shouldering the weight of the Celtics team on his own.
21 Celtics had a washed Kemba, Smart, Fournier, Tatum, Tristan Thompson, Langford, Jabari Parker rotation (JB injured) and Tatum dragged them to a 7th seed, dropped 50 in the play-in and won one game by himself against the peak Nets when everyone was healthy and they were expected to sleepwalk to the title.