Is Jayson Tatum Getting Shortchanged With NBA MVP Prices?

Jayson Tatum unsurprisingly has been impressive this season for the Boston Celtics.

The 23-year-old struggled mightily out of the gate shooting-wise, but has turned it around and has been one of the best players in the league this season. He is one of the biggest reasons why the Celtics have turned their season around.

For awhile Boston hovered around .500 and was unable to break through, but everything changed when the calendar flipped over to 2022 and now the squad sits at 37-27, good for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference.

Tatum has been one of the biggest reasons why and boasts averages of 25.9 points, a career-high 8.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while also playing defense at a high clip. The Boston forward likely will garner some All-Defensive team votes when the regular season comes to a close, although he may not actually make one of the teams.

His impressive season already has been recognized as he made his third straight All-Star team, but if he keeps up his level of play and the Celtics continue their hot streak, he likely also will find himself on an All-NBA team. Tatum won’t win the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season, but DraftKings Sportsbook has him tied with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James for the 10th-best odds to take home the award at +30000 and that may be too low.

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Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid currently is the odds-on favorite to win the award with at -120 and Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic isn’t far behind at +260. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, DeMar DeRozan, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant are all also ahead of Tatum.

All of these players have had greats season in their own right, but Tatum should at least be in front of James and Durant in the odds. James is having his best season in years, but the Lakers barely are holding on to a play-in spot right now and are looking like a sinking ship no matter how well he plays.

Durant at one point looked like he was going to easily take home the award, but suffered an injury and only has played 36 games this season. The Brooklyn Nets forward’s odds are half of Tatum’s at +15000.

This conversation really doesn’t mean too much because unless injuries pop up, the award will go to Embiid or Jokic, but Tatum at least should finish higher than Durant and James and maybe a few others if he continues at the pace he’s at and the Celtics continue to stay hot.