Celtics star Jayson Tatum knocking on door of MVP race in new analytics-based assessment of the candidates

Could the St. Louis native rise even further by season’s end?

As it might be for Boston Celtics starting big man Robert Williams III for the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award, it might be a little too soon in the career of Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum to be a serious contender for the NBA’s 2022 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.

But it is not out of the question that either of the two could win such a heady honor even this season, with many analysts seeing both in the running to take home some of the league’s most coveted hardware this season. And in the case of the St. Louis native, Tatum is already knocking on the door of the true contenders for this season’s MVP.

Such is the case with Bryan Kalbrosky of our sister site HoopsHype ranking Tatum sixth overall in the race based on an analytics-based assessment.