Boston Celtics: Frontrunners to win each of the 2021-22 NBA awards
By Nick Swanson
Most likely Boston Celtics MVP: Jayson Tatum
Looking at the Boston Celtics roster, there is only one player that could even sniff the NBA MVP award and it’s obviously Jayson Tatum. Tatum, who received a single vote for the 2019-2020 season, is the only player on the current roster that has received MVP votes at any point in their career.
The Celtics had a very underwhelming season in 2020, one in which the ended up as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference and only went 36-36 on the year. Going into 2021, there are much higher expectations as the team is now deeper and looks very different than it did at season’s end. The departure of Kemba Walker should greatly benefit Tatum as he’s now, once again, the primary ball handler and the go-to guy. He no longer has Walker chucking up shots which will increase his shot volume tremendously.
Tatum is a certified bucket-getter who, if he continues to progress like he has each year, should have the best scoring season of his career. We’ve seen him go out and dominate a game with no problems before with other primary scorers on the team, this season with just Jaylen Brown in the backcourt, Tatum should become a more ball dominant player and could replicate Russell Westbrook type success. This is the first time in his career where it seems like he has a real shot of leading this Celtics team to a top seed and on a deep playoff run. If the Celtics are good and JT is the main reason behind it, he’ll definitely have his name thrown in the mix.
The Eastern Conference still seems to be open with only the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks as favorites. Should Tatum go out and drop 28-8-5 and the Celtics get a top four seed in the conference, it’ll be hard to justify giving the award to anyone else, barring an incredible season from Giannis or LeBron.