Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have been rolling so far on the 2023-24 NBA season, currently holders of the best record in the league by no small margin–the next closest team in either conference is a whopping 4.5 games behind Boston for the league. Tatum has continued to play at an elite level for a Celtics team that is stacked with talent from top to bottom and certainly figures to be in championship or bust territory.
The great play from Tatum has led some to wonder whether or not he could be a candidate for the NBA MVP award, to be announced at the end of the season, and NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN noted on First Take that, for better or for worse, past postseason disappointments can influence voters in their selection. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith then wondered why that same logic doesn’t apply to Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, winner of last year’s MVP and perhaps the most notorious playoff dropper of his generation, to which reporter Monica McNutt responded, “because he scored 70,” referencing Embiid’s recent 70-point game.
Of course, McNutt’s declaration was completely out of context considering the question of playoff disappointments and that Embiid’s explosion occurred this year, not last year. Celtics backup forward Oshae Brissett then took to X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter, to defend his teammate.
While Celtics fans might still be trying to process exactly what was going through McNutt’s mind when she made that seemingly context-adjacent comment, they will also hope that Tatum and his teammates continue to produce at a high level in the second half of the year.
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