For the third consecutive season, Jayson Tatum has been named to the All-NBA First Team – a no-brainer accolade for the best player on the best team in the league.
The seventh-year wing is coming off his fifth All-Star season in which he averaged 26.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, a career-high 4.9 assists, and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field (the highest mark since his rookie campaign), 37.6 percent from 3-point range, and 83.3 percent from the free-throw line.
He accomplished all of that while leading the Celtics to an NBA-best 64-18 record, making them the first Eastern Conference team to win over 60 games in a season since the 2012-13 Miami Heat.
Joining Tatum on the First Team were Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas’ Luka Doncic, and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. It marked Tatum’s fourth overall All-NBA recognition, including a Third Team selection in 2019-20.
Jaylen Brown, surprisingly, was not among the 15 players chosen for either of the three teams announced Wednesday night. He earned by far the most votes (50 Third Team votes) of any player who did not make the cut.
While Brown’s snubbing was disappointing, Tatum’s achievement is still something that the entire Celtics team can celebrate because it’s largely a reflection of the squad’s collective success.
Tatum was one of several Celtics who sacrificed his role this season, as he willingly allowed his scoring production to dip – by more than three points per game – from the previous campaign in order to maximize his teammates' impact. He became more of a distributor, showing growth in his decision-making skills and ability to read defenses.
Even with the addition of a 20-point-per-game scorer in Kristaps Porzingis, Tatum still ranked among the top seven scorers in the league, while finishing just 13 points shy of his third straight 2,000-point season.
Tatum was one of four players to average at least 26.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. The other three were fellow First Teamers, Antetokounmpo, Doncic, and Jokic. He was also one of only three players to make at least 600 field goals, 200 3-pointers, and 400 free throws along with Doncic and New York’s Jaylen Brunson.
JT led the Celtics in scoring, rebounding, field-goal makes, 3-point makes, and free-throw makes, and was second in assists and steals.
He became just the seventh player in franchise history to earn three First Team selections, joining Bob Cousy (10), Larry Bird (nine), John Havlicek (four), Bill Sharman (four), Ed Macauley (three), and Bill Russell (three.
The only item that Tatum is missing that those other six have is a championship. So now the best player on the best team in the league will aim to check that accomplishment off his basketball bucket list to cap off his latest All-NBA First Team campaign.