Jayson Tatum is an NBA champion, but does that change where he ranks among the NBA’s best players?

Sayre’s law dictates that “in any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” This is the essence of virtually every argument surrounding Jayson Tatum’s individual standing within the NBA. 

Critics in the past have pointed to his limitations as a playmaker (though he has improved on that front), his high-jumper shot diet and the low-usage role he is able to play in a well-spaced offense relative to other superstars as evidence that he isn’t a top-tier player. Supporters have gone the other way, arguing his status as the best player on the best team should afford him far more respect. In a February discussion about the MVP race on The Draymond Green Show, the Golden State star used this stance to argue that Tatum has been held to a higher standard than his peers.

“Clearly the goalposts have shifted dramatically, because in this guy’s case, he’s fifth? And [his team] has a 7.5-game lead in the conference? The goalposts have moved on Jayson Tatum,” Green said. “I know what JT has to do. JT will not be taken seriously for MVP until he wins a championship, and it just hasn’t been that way for everybody else, I must say. It wasn’t that way for Nikola Jokic. It wasn’t that way for Giannis Antetokounmpo. It wasn’t that way for Joel Embiid. It just really hasn’t been that way for everybody else, so I don’t know how it ended up that way for JT.”

Well, there’s a pretty simple explanation for what’s gone on here. Tatum has played for better teams than players like Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Embiid. Therefore, he has been asked to do less in service of carrying those teams than they have, and as a result, has fared worse when it comes to individual accolades. This is a concept that drives a significant amount of basketball debate, because, as Sayre’s law dictates, it ultimately isn’t that important. Tatum’s individual standing has never mattered, and Tatum’s own performance reflected that. “We’re so close to what we’re trying to accomplish, why would I let my ego or my need to score all the points…

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Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-18 04:18:56

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