Jayson Tatum will make his second NBA Finals appearance this June, as he and the Boston Celtics have advanced to the championship round after a dominant 2023-24 season. One of the knocks on the 26-year-old has been his inability to put his team on his back and win the important games, but he’ll have a chance to rectify that in the coming weeks as he and his team will go up against the Dallas Mavericks for the rights to the title.
Jayson Tatum Favored To Win NBA Finals MVP
The Jays against the Mavs this season:
Tatum — Brown —
35.5 PPG 29.5 PPG
9.5 RPG 5.0 RPG
53/40/85% 57.1 FG%2-0. pic.twitter.com/vXX8gYybjY
— StatMuse (@statmuse) May 31, 2024
He’s also the favorite to take home Finals MVP. After rolling through the playoffs in a similar fashion to how they dominated in the regular season, the Celtics are somewhat heavy favorites for the championship series. The early lines have Boston listed around -210, while Dallas will enter with a designation somewhere around +175. And given that the MVP award is typically presented to the most productive player on the winning team, Tatum is listed at -115 to take home the award.
Interestingly, it was Jaylen Brown who was named the most valuable during the most recent series. During the Eastern Conference Finals, Brown scored fewer points, grabbed fewer rebounds, and had less than half of the assists that Tatum did, but was still somehow named the MVP.
Irving Could Present Good Value At +2200
LUKA DONCIC: KYRIE IRVING:
36 POINTS 36 POINTS
10 REBOUNDS 5 ASSISTS
6 THREES 4 THREES
5 ASSISTS 4 REBOUNDSNBA FINALS BOUND. pic.twitter.com/8edAaARqm1
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 31, 2024
Brown is third on the list when it comes to the shortest odds of being named the most valuable player of the NBA Finals. His designation is +650, making him something of a long shot behind his teammate Tatum, and Luka Dončić, who is sitting at +205. All the way back at +2200 is Kyrie Irving, who represents great value, given his recent level of play. Kristaps Porziņģis and Derrick White both sit at +3500.
We are set to have our 7th different NBA Finals MVP in as many years. For the first time since the span of 1975 to 1980, we will have 6 different NBA champions in six different years, a stark contrast from the previous seven years that showed little parity.
