Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is the best player on the NBA's best team. It's a great spot to be in, but it might not help his case for league MVP.
ESPN's Tim Bontemps released the results of his first MVP straw poll of the season last week. Many of the participants in Bontemps' poll will have an actual vote for the award at the end of the season. Tatum came in fourth place in the voting and didn't earn a single first-place vote from the 100 ballots cast.
Tatum gave an MVP-caliber performance versus the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night. He scored 43 points with 16 rebounds and 10 assists as the Celtics won 123-98. It was the first time a Celtics player ever tallied 40-plus points, 15-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in a game. The last Celtic to have a 40-point triple-double was Larry Bird.
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Tatum was asked about the MVP race and his candidacy after the victory in Chicago, and he gave a really thoughtful response.
“We’re a really, really good team, with so many talented players," Tatum said postgame, as seen in the video player above. "I’m probably not going to put up the same numbers as some of those other guys. That’s perfectly fine with me, especially what we did in June last year.
"That’s the main goal here, not for me to win MVP, but for us to play at a high level and compete for a championship year in and year out. If I accomplish that along the way, that would be amazing, but the main goal is for everybody to feel involved and to play a part in us doing something special."
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla thinks Tatum's greatness is often overlooked in the MVP conversation.
"Yeah, no question, 100 percent it does," Mazzulla told reporters postgame Saturday. "Again, because he's been doing it for such a long time and he's on a really good team, and I think that hurts him sometimes. But just his ability to do what he does on a great team I think says more about him as a player."
Tatum is putting up amazing stats. He leads the Celtics with averages of 28.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He's also shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range, in addition to strong defense.
That's an MVP-caliber resume, but there are other players with better stats, including reigning MVP Nikola Jokic, who's averaging a triple-double for the Denver Nuggets.
Winning the MVP is great, and if it happens for Tatum, it would only enhance his legacy. But the best way for him to be remembered as an all-time great is by winning multiple titles, not multiple MVPs.
