Jayson Tatum has been named the NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Month, per NBA Communications.
This is Tatum’s fifth Player of the Month award, second only to Larry Bird’s seven for most in Boston Celtics history. This award includes the full month of November and the few games played at the end of October, in which Tatum averaged 28.7 points per game along with 8.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists.
Interestingly, Tatum has won the first Eastern Conference Player of the Month in three consecutive seasons, becoming the first player in NBA history to do that in either conference. To come out hot each year is a remarkable achievement given the sheer number of games Tatum plays, reaching Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals or further in all three proceeding seasons.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who captured the Western Conference award, and Nikola Jokic still sit ahead of Tatum in Most Valuable Player odds per DraftKings Sportsbook, though the NBA season is still not even a quarter done. Tatum was an early favorite to win the award both this and last season.
Tatum has sustained a remarkably consistent scoring output despite an incredibly talented supporting cast, the recent return of Kristaps Porzingis and the emergence of Payton Pritchard as a legitimate offensive creator. Despite this, Tatum’s durability and skillful malleability remain the Celtics’ silver bullets, and should continue to be for years to come.
