Jayson Tatum is one of the NBA’s top young talents after a breakout season in 2020. In just his third year in the league, he has pushed himself to the brink of superstardom, and he’s only 22! 

NBA players are the best in the world at what they do, and  are constantly being critiqued by analysts and sports writers. Every year, at the end of the regular season, a panel of these sports writers and broadcasters vote for a variety of league-wide titles that are given only to the best in the NBA. The most coveted title is the Most Valuable Player (MVP). While the MVP award race usually only has two or three real contenders, one of its real purposes is to open the discussion about who the top players are. 

This season, Tatum emerged as the clear number one option on the Boston Celtics. He led them to the number three seed in the East and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, which was their third in the last four years. Tatum got the recognition he deserved this year, earning All-Star recognition and third team all-NBA honors.  

Tatum has become one of the best players in the league and is widely regarded as a top-15 player. With this in mind, I asked a few fans of the Celtics and the NBA where they think Tatum ranks. The responses ranged from as low as 16 to as high as seven. After taking a look at Tatum’s stats, here’s what I found:

People feel similarly to me about where Jayson Tatum ranks, which is about the 13th-best player in the league. People may end up with different conclusions, depending on how much you value different aspects of the game. I came to the conclusion that Tatum is the 13th-best player in the league because of his great scoring, solid rebounding, and improved playmaking. 

This season Tatum averaged 23.4 points per game (PPG), which was the 15th-highest PPG in the league. Tatum performed well before the All-Star break, averaging 22.4 PPG, but stepped it up afterwards, boosting his PPG to 26.6 on better shooting efficiency, as well as averaging a greater number of rebounds and assists. Tatum averaged only 3.0 assists per game this season, but his playmaking improved greatly during this year’s playoffs, where he averaged 5.0 assists per game. With his improved playmaking skills, Tatum has added a whole new aspect to his game. 

Now, on to the comparisons. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the league MVP for the past two years, along with winning his first Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) Award this year, and has turned into one of the most dominant players of this decade. Antetokounmpo averaged 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game this year, while Tatum averaged 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game. Antetokounmpo beats Tatum in points, rebounds, and assists, as well as in blocks. The one big hole in his game is three-point shooting, which was just above 30%for the season, while Tatum excels in three-point shooting, hitting 40% of his shots from deep. It’s pretty clear that Antetokounmpo is the better player now, but if you compare Tatum now to Antetokounmpo in his third year in the league, the numbers are similar in rebounds and assists, but Tatum’s scoring is much better than that of a young Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo just finished his seventh year in the league, so with time, Tatum could reach the top.

I’m going to skip down to someone a bit closer to Tatum, around number ten on my list.  

The first player in this category is Damian Lillard, who led the Portland Trailblazers to the eighth seed in a stacked Western Conference, beating out Devin Booker and the Suns, Ja Morant and the  Grizzlies, and Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans. Lillard averaged 30.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 8.0 assists. Lillard is known as a great all-around scorer, earning second team all-NBA recognition, compared with Tatum’s third team all-NBA honors.. Lillard is a solid defender, but Tatum is better on that end of the floor, averaging more steals and blocks, and having a significantly better defensive rating of 106 compared to Lillards 118. Lillard has shown that he is a bona fide superstar, and has led his team to the playoffs for the past seven seasons, getting as far as the Western Conference Finals. While Tatum is a better defender, Lillard’s ability to lead his team to a playoff spot in a stacked Western Conference, as well as his superior offensive talent, has led me to conclude that Lillard is a better player than Tatum.

The next comparison is with Ben Simmons, who averaged 16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.0 assists. While Simmons averages more assists, he averages less points, with relatively the same rebounding numbers. While Simmons has seemingly better stats, he is hopeless from the three-point range, which is a huge hindrance, especially in today’s very three-point-oriented league. Both are very good defensive players, but for me, Tatum wins out in this matchup. While Simmons is a great playmaker, Tatum’s improved playmaking is not far enough behind to push Simmons ahead of Tatum’s better scoring and spacing, but this could really go in either direction. 

Next we have Russell Westbrook, who put up 27.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.0 assists. Similar to Simmons, Westbrook cannot space the floor, after shooting only 25.8% from three. Westbrook is a good defender, and puts up decent numbers on the defensive end, averaging 1.6 steals and 0.4 blocks a game. Even without a three point shot, Westbrook can still be dominant, as he won the MVP in 2017 averaging a triple double, a feat only done once before by Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 season. While I would go with Westbrook off of statistics, the Rockets had to change their team drastically, turning into a small-ball, three-point oriented team to make enough space on the floor to drive. I would say that Westbrook is a better player but it is much easier to build a team around Tatum, due to Tatum’s young age and his ability to stretch the floor, opening the paint enough for a big man to thrive.

Jayson Tatum is a superstar in the making, and at only 22 years old, he has lots of time to improve his game even further. He looks to have a long and successful career ahead of him. With Tatum at the helm, I’m excited to see just how far the Celtics can go.