The NBA has announced its 2023-24 NBA MVP finalists and Celtics fans are disappointed to find out that Jayson Tatum was not one of the three. As predicted Luka Doncic, of the Dallas Mavericks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets were the three players selected.
Tatum's chances hinged on voters prioritizing the "best player on the best team" sentiment, which tends to not win out in the end. As I have previously mentioned a few times, I believe Tatum's best shot at winning an MVP would be the season after winning a championship. That sounds a bit arse backwards for a regular season award, but that's kind of how voters have acted prior.
As a Celtics fan of course the NBA Finals trophy is much more important than an individual regular season award. And there is something cool about winning a title without having the "top" player on your team. Tatum and his Celtics could very well face one of these three finalists in the upcoming NBA Finals. It would be a similar scenario to when Kevin Garnett's Celtics defeated 2007-2008 NBA MVP Kobe Bryant in that year's Finals.
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