Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum had an interesting answer when asked about how important winning MVP is to him.
(via CLNS Media):
Bobby Manning: “You’ve talked about in the past wanting to win MVP, that being a big thing for you. You’ve talked this year about the importance of winning and kind of sacrificing, and putting that above that personal goal. For you, where does that lie for you, that MVP chase? Obviously, people are talking about it a little bit more now with you. How important is that to you at this stage of your career?”
Tatum: “I think individual awards are important. I’m not going to say that they’re not. Everybody wants to win a championship, but you want to be rewarded for the work that you put in, for the things that you go out there and do on the court. They have individual awards for a reason, and as a competitor, as a player, you grew up watching your favorite players win MVPs and First Team All-NBA, and things like that. So of course you want to win those things, but it can’t take precedence over playing the right way and doing the things that you have to do in order for your team to essentially be the best team in the league and have a chance to win a championship. So, would I love to win? Yes. But apparently us losing the Finals two years ago affects what people think of me now, so I guess I’ve got some ground to make up. But everybody who has a vote, they vote. The criteria is different, everybody thinks differently. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it is what it is, so you can’t tell people what they should look for when they vote. But that’s the beauty of it.”
