When the 2022-23 NBA season started, most people thought that Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks had the best chance at winning his first MVP trophy.
Sure enough, Doncic got off to a crazy-hot start and put himself solidly in the lead for that prize.
But no one thought it would be that easy for Doncic and nearly everyone agreed the competition was about to heat up.
That’s exactly what happened.
Jayson Tatum leads the early MVP race in ESPN’s Straw Poll, based on votes from 100 league insidershttps://t.co/1lpWHwd4cc pic.twitter.com/C2fy3ZoMeT
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) December 16, 2022
ESPN just released the findings to their straw poll taking a look at who league insiders think will win MVP this year.
Doncic is certainly on the list but he’s actually in third place.
Ahead of him is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and ahead of them all is Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics.
Other names appear on the straw poll, including Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, two-time MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies.
But it’s Tatum who is leading the way with 759 total points.
Is Tatum’s trophy just a matter of time at this point?
Tatum Towering Over Others
You can’t blame anyone for thinking Tatum is going to run away with this thing.
So far, he is averaging 30.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists a game.
He’s hitting 47% of his shots from the field and is quite literally leading his team to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
Tatum has been great for years but this really does feel like his year.
But the season is still young and there is plenty of time for Donic, Antetokounmpo, or a number of other players to overtake Tatum and ultimately win the prize.
The bottom line is this: this race will be one to watch and will be a blast for fans of each player.
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