As the Boston Celtics get set to head into next season, they are the favorites to win a second straight championship. They still have one of the best rosters in basketball, as Brad Stevens brought back nearly an identical roster, and the team’s stars are all still on the squad.
But after winning Banner 18 last year, Banner 19 could bring more than just another title. It would give Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown the chance to make history.
Winning back-to-back championships isn’t easy. Simply accomplishing that milestone would be enough to cement themselves into NBA lore. But if they manage to get to that point, Tatum and Brown could become the first duo in 35 years—and the third ever—to achieve one major feat.
There have only been two duos to ever win NBA Finals MVP awards in back-to-back seasons. Magic Johnson and James Worthy won it in 1987 and 1988, and Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas did it in 1989 and 1990.
Outside of those four years in a row, whenever a team has won multiple championships in a row, it was the same player who won the Finals MVP trophy (which was first introduced in 1969).
Brown took home the honor this past season, but considering how talented both he and Tatum are, it’s not far-fetched to imagine the latter could earn the award next season, should the Celtics win another title.
Tatum has made the All-NBA First Team three years running, so imagining him winning a Finals MVP award next year is far from an improbability. If anything, it’s the most likely outcome.
Not only would the Celtics be able to establish themselves as one of the best teams of this century, but they’d be able to lift their two stars into a new class of NBA legends.
Joining the ranks of Johnson, Worthy, Dumars, and Thomas would put Tatum and Brown in an elite class of players, as all of those guys are Hall-of-Famers.
The accomplishment would not only be a testament to how great Tatum and Brown are but also proof of how perfectly Brad Stevens has built out the Celtics roster.
Having one MVP-caliber player on the roster is hard enough, but having two makes the Celtics one of the most impressively built squads ever.
