Every year, ESPN publishes a survey It involves general managers, coaches and scouts from across the league. They vote on who they think will win the biggest awards, which teams will win the championship and who will be the best player in the league. Well, this year, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was relegated to the back burner.
While Tatum managed to get two votes for the question “Who will be the 2024-25 NBA MVP?”, he did not provide an answer to the questions “Who is the best player in the NBA right now?” and “Who will be the best player in the NBA in five years?”
But Anthony Edwards did it.
Edwards received one vote for the league’s current MVP and one for the MVP in the last five years. Nikola Jokic won the former category, with Luka Doncic in consideration, while Victor Wembanyama was the clear favorite for the MVP in the future. But the reigning NBA champion didn’t get much praise from voters.
It makes sense to pick Jokic as the best player in the world right now. While the Denver Nuggets failed last season, his offensive talent is legendary and he’s a much better defender than most people think. The love for Doncic also makes sense, as he’s incredible on offense (but horrible on defense). And the same can be said for Wembanyama, who could be an MVP and DPOY in the next five years.
But the comparison between Edwards and Tatum is interesting. Edwards is a fun player, an incredible scorer, and a great defender on offense, but as an all-around player, the argument that he is better than Tatum makes no sense.
With Tatum a long period of declineIt made sense to play Edwards in the United States teamThey needed floor space. (Even though the choice was stupid (in Game 2 against Serbia.) But in the NBA, where both guys are the best players on their respective teams, debating Edwards versus Tatum is crazy.
Edwards is the better scorer right now. Tatum had a very inefficient playoff run and couldn’t find a rhythm during the Olympics. But overall, Tatum has always been a better shooter (he even shot better in the regular season), he’s bigger and more efficient inside, and he’s even been better from mid-range than Edwards this year.
Both guys have averaged nearly identical game numbers this season, and defensively, while the two are probably evenly matched, Tatum is bigger, more versatile, and guards a wider variety of positions.
Ultimately, Edwards’ “aura” and ability to score in a bunch are likely what gives him the nod, when in reality, Tatum’s championship pedigree and history of continued success should make him the obvious choice.
This is recency bias at its worst, and it’s only because Tatum has struggled to score in recent months. Despite that, one player won a championship and one player saw his men’s team swept by a worse team in the conference finals.
