Jaylen Brown Overtakes Jayson Tatum As NBA Finals MVP Favorite

Jaylen Brown arguably was the Celtics’ best player through the first three games of the NBA Finals, and he might get the hardware to back up that claim.

Boston on Wednesday survived an embarrassing collapse in Game 3 of the NBA Finals when it beat the Mavericks, 106-99, at American Airlines Center. Dallas came back from a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but Luka Doncic fouling out and a clutch bucket from Brown helped the Celtics take a 3-0 series lead.

Brown and Jayson Tatum notoriously have not cared who the best player among them is despite the constant debate about the subject. Brown was Boston’s leading scorer through three games of the NBA Finals averaging 24.3 points per game on 55.1% shooting. He’s also been a solid distributor with an average of 11.3 potential assists in the Finals.

And he might get the acknowledgment as the best player in the series as the guard is a -340 favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook to win NBA Finals MVP. Tatum, who was the favorite, is behind him at +270. There’s a wide gap after them with Doncic’s 29-1 odds to Finals MVP.

Things always can change, and the lead-up to Game 4 on Friday might be the best time to buy low on Tatum if you think the Celtics star can make a convincing case if Boston completes the sweep.