BOSTON — Despite starting the season as a frontrunner for NBA MVP thanks to his enormous production and the success of his Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum is now on the fringes of that conversation. But after putting up a league-record 55 points in the All-Star Game on Sunday night and earning MVP honors, Tatum has announced himself to voters and opponents once again.
In a Monday edition of the Locked On Sports Today podcast, Locked On Celtics podcast host John Karalis discussed how Tatum might factor into the MVP race over the stretch run of the NBA season.
“It’s a hell of a flashpoint there where you say, 55 points in the All-Star Game, All-Star Game MVP, all it takes is one of those little things,” Karalis told host Peter Bukowski. “If Denver falls off a little bit, Philly can’t really fully catch up to the Celtics, and the Celtics continue to make a little bit of a run … then you have the narrative starting to build for Tatum.”
Tatum appeared to be one of the only players gunning for the MVP trophy, named after his childhood hero, Kobe Bryant. It also helped that his head coach, Joe Mazzulla, was leading Team Giannis in the game and was able to juice Tatum’s minutes a little bit more than other players.
But as Tatum looks toward the close of the season and his chances to add some more valuable hardware to his trophy case, voters will have to keep his trajectory and team success in mind.
“Tatum is just doing it differently. He has built himself into the MVP candidate that he is,” Karalis said. “Tatum slowly has built into a secondary scorer on Kyrie Irving teams … and only now have he and Jaylen Brown really ascended into the number one and number two options.”
Tatum is averaging 30.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game this season while Boston sits atop the East at 42-17 at the break.