Best chance for Duke basketball product to win NBA MVP

Jayson Tatum appears on a quest to be Duke basketball's first-ever NBA MVP.

No former Duke basketball player has ever won an NBA MVP race. That statement might not be true much longer.

Roughly a quarter of the way through the season, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who went No. 3 overall at the 2017 NBA Draft after his one-and-done Blue Devil campaign, trails only Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic on NBA.com's Kia MVP Ladder.

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And the latest update came before the 6-foot-8, 210-pound sensation needed only three quarters to score a game-high 35 points in the Celtics' 140-105 home win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night.

It was Boston's fourth straight victory and 13th in its past 14 games. The Celtics (17-4) boast the league's best record; they have three more wins than any team from either conference — eight more than Doncic's Mavericks.

Another night, another offensive explosion that was accompanied by a W. pic.twitter.com/c99saUEQcS

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 29, 2022

Tatum leads the team in points, rebounds, and blocks. And the durable playmaker, who has only once missed more than eight games in a regular season, has played in all but one of Boston's outings thus far.

So there's all that.

The three-time All-Star, now in his sixth season as a pro and looking to become a back-to-back All-NBA First Team selection, is averaging a career-high 30.8 points. That's not to mention his 7.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.9 steals in 36.6 minutes per game.

Furthermore, his 2.4 turnovers per game mark a three-year low.

Perhaps he must improve his shooting percentages, although they're not too shabby as they stand: 48. 1 percent from the field, 34.7 percent beyond the arc, and 87.0 percent from the foul line.

And there's no telling how well guys like Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Steph Curry (the others among the top five on the MVP Ladder) will perform the rest of the way.

Of course, since Jayson Tatum is only 24 years old, it's a safe bet he will see many more opportunities in years to come.

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