Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have enjoyed a dominant start to the 2023-24 NBA season. The Celtics currently sit with the best record in the entire NBA at 29-8 following Wednesday evening's overtime win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, leading many to wonder if a first-ever MVP award might be on Tatum's horizon.

Recently, NBA insider Brian Windhorst stopped by ESPN's NBA Today to discuss his thoughts on the MVP debate and why he doesn't think Tatum himself should be concerned about his candidacy for the award.

“There's only one MVP Jayson Tatum should be worried about this year. That's the Finals MVP,” said Windhorst. “I don't think he's going to be able to win the regular season MVP because he struggled in the Finals two years ago, and they disappointed in the playoffs last year, and while that's not this season, that frames the discussion around him.”

While in theory, an MVP award should not be affected by what a player did in previous seasons, we've seen time and time again that the award's voters clearly take past performance, or lack thereof, into account when casting their ballots. Tatum himself indeed flamed out in the 2022 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, and as Windhorst mentioned, although his individual performance was good in the 2023 postseason, Tatum's team did not make the run many were expecting back to the Finals.

If Jayson Tatum is able to pull through and win a championship and Finals MVP this year, all other negative discourse surrounding him will likely be thrown out of the window.