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Jayson Tatum’s fast starts have reached historic levels.
On Tuesday, the NBA announced that Tatum was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month for the combined months of October and November, making him the first player in NBA history to win the award for the first month(s) of a season in three consecutive campaigns.
Tatum won it for October/November in 2022, in 2023, and now in 2024. He averaged at least 27.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists during all three instances.
Overall, it’s the fifth time that Tatum has earned Player of the Month honors, which pushes him past Paul Pierce (four) into second place on the franchise’s all-time list. The only player above him is Larry Bird with seven, a record Tatum is on pace to easily break.
Three of Tatum’s monthly wins have come in the last two seasons. During that time, no other player in the league has won more than two and no other player in the East won more than one.
Tatum was third in the East in scoring through November with an average of 28.7 points per game, trailing only Giannis Antetokounmpo (32.9 PPG) and LaMelo Ball (31.1 PPG). The main difference for Tatum is that he put up points while playing for a far more successful team. The Celtics were 16-3 through November while Antetokounmpo’s Bucks and Ball’s Hornets were 9-8 and 6-12, respectively.
Tatum put up big numbers in other departments, as well. He averaged 8.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, making him the only East player to produce at least 28.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, and 1.0 SPG during that stretch. He also shot 46.1 percent from the field, 37.8 percent from 3-point range, and 79.5 percent from the free-throw line. And he led the East with a plus/minus of plus-199.
The eighth-year wing started the season with a 37-point, 10-assist effort to lead a 132-109 Opening-Night win over the New York Knicks. He scored exactly 37 points in three of his first five games, which remains his season high.
On Nov. 16, he knocked down a game-winning buzzer-beating 3-pointer in overtime to beat the Toronto Raptors as part of a 24-point, 11-rebound, nine-assist effort. It marked the second straight game in which he came up one rebound or one assist shy of a triple-double, following a 36-point,10-assist, nine-rebound effort against the Brooklyn Nets.
He also had a massive performance to close out November with 35 points, a season-high 14 rebounds, and five assists in a win at Chicago.
Accumulating those types of numbers consistently while leading one of the top teams in the league has put Tatum’s name right into the middle of the early MVP conversation. So far, he has clearly been the MVP of the East, proven by his latest monthly honor.