While Jayson Tatum starts the rehab process after his ruptured right Achilles tendon, his 2024-25 campaign was still honored in a small way. Tatum matched a career-best finish by landing at fourth in NBA MVP voting with the results released by the league Wednesday.
Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander earned his first career MVP as he edged out three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, who was second. Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was third place as he had another stellar season.
Tatum finished with a total of 311 points, getting 11 third-place votes, 84 fourth-place votes and four fifth-place votes. He was a clear fourth-place finisher as the Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell, who came in at fifth, notched 74 points.
Tatum’s fourth-place finish ties him with his 2022-23 campaign, which is when he averaged 30.1 points per game. This year, Tatum finished the regular season averaging 26.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and a career-best 6.0 assists per game. While he’s had better counting stats in other years, Tatum put together his best season as he sharpened his all-around game.
The Celtics finished 61-21 to finish second in the East. While the season finished unexpectedly short to the Knicks in the second round, the C’s still dominated the regular season. Boston will go through an offseason of change now while Tatum will rehab his Achilles in the coming months.