Ahead of the Boston Celtics’ 2023-24 campaign, a general consensus emerged that star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum would be in the mix to win the NBA’s 2024 Most Valuable Player award. But in a recent analysis using NBA Math’s Rolling Player Ratings (RPR), the St. Louis native finds himself a lot farther down in the list of MVP contenders than one might think.
Currently, the top candidate for MVP by this analysis is Joel Embiid (18.41 RPR), followed by Nikola Jokic (17.8), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (17.52). After the top three, we have Giannis Antetokounmpo (16.55), and Luka Doncic (16.01) to round out the top five contenders for MVP.
Wondering where Tatum is? Keep going — after Doncic comes a sharp drop-off with Anthony Davis (14.14), Tyrese Halliburton (13.97), and Tyrese Maxey (12.89) to round out the top eight.
Celtics Lab 233: Boston beats the Lakers on Christmas Day, and making sense of trade rumors with Bobby Krivitsky https://t.co/GzzNf981pe via @thecelticswire pic.twitter.com/H9HizoNJAM
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 26, 2023
The Duke alum finally appears at ninth overall with a 12.8 RPR. After Tatum comes LeBron James with a 12.76 RPR, so at least Tatum is among good company if not where expected earlier in the season.
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