Every year, ESPN puts out a survey that involves GMs, coaches, and scouts from around the league. They vote on who they think will win major awards, which teams will win the championship, and who will be the best player in the league. Well, this year, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was pushed to the back burner.
While Tatum managed to earn two votes for the question, “Who will be the 2024-25 NBA MVP?” he didn’t yield selections for the questions, “Who is the NBA’s best player right now?” and “Who will be the NBA’s best player in five years?”
But Anthony Edwards did.
Edwards received one vote as the best player in the league right now and one for the best player in five years. Nikola Jokic won the former category, with Luka Doncic getting some consideration, while Victor Wembanyama was the clear favorite for best moving forward. But the reigning NBA Champion didn’t get much love from voters.
It makes sense to pick Jokic as the best player in the world right now. Though the Denver Nuggets fell short this past season, his offensive talent is legendary, and he’s a far better defender than most people give him credit for. The Doncic love makes some sense, too, as he’s incredible on offense (but he’s awful on defense). And the same can be said for Wembanyama, who could be an MVP and DPOY within the next five years.
But Edwards over Tatum is interesting. Edwards is a fun player, an amazing scorer, and a great point-of-attack defender, but as a complete player, the argument that he’s better than Tatum doesn’t make any sense.
With Tatum’s drawn-out shooting slump, it made sense to play Edwards on Team USA. They needed the floor spacing. (Even though the choice was silly in the second Serbia game.) But in the NBA, where both guys are the best players on their respective teams, arguing Edwards over Tatum is wild.
Edwards is the better scorer right now. Tatum had a wildly inefficient playoff run and couldn’t find any rhythm during the Olympics. But as a whole, Tatum has historically been a better shooter (he even shot better in the regular season), he’s a bigger, more efficient finisher inside, and he was even better from the mid-range than Edwards this year.
Both guys averaged nearly identical playmaking numbers this season, and defensively, while both are probably on par with one another, Tatum’s taller, more versatile, and guard a wider variety of positions.
At the end of the day, Edwards’ “aura” and ability to score in bunches is likely what gives him the nod, when in reality, Tatum’s now-championship pedigree and history of continued success should have him as the obvious choice.
This is recency bias at its finest, and it’s only because Tatum has struggled with his scoring over the past few months. Despite that, one player one a championship, and one player got gentlemen’s swept by a lesser team in the conference finals.
