Has Anthony Edwards Surpassed Jayson Tatum?

[Handlez]

If Porzingis isn't injured, Boston probably wins the title and Tatum likely wins FMVP.

So there's that.

[KG Leonard]

If Porzingis isn't injured, Boston probably wins the title and Tatum likely wins FMVP.

So there's that.

That's still more likely to happen with Porzingis injury than Ant getting "awarded" for things he hasnt done yet. I didn't know regular season stats, a series win Vs a 6th seed is like beating the Champions.

The guy is closer when he was an all-star replacement than having the proven record of Tatum who is 3 straight all NBA first team. Best player on a team who has won more series in the last two years than Ant, Luka, SGA combined...

[Gatorade Sax]

He hasn’t surpassed him in the simple fact that Tatum has taken his team to a finals series, and has won many more playoff series in his career than Ant to this point.

That being said, Ant is only 22 and possesses that ‘it factor, a killer instinct’. He just resonates a vibe that Tatum doesn’t have. If I was picking between the 2 right now I take Ant all day, regardless of numbers. He is willing to go to war and has everything at his disposal to back it up.

Someone like KD doesn’t just gush about you after you sweep his team for no reason. Ant has something that can’t be coached.

[Fencer reregistered]

He hasn’t surpassed him in the simple fact that Tatum has taken his team to a finals series, and has won many more playoff series in his career than Ant to this point.

That being said, Ant is only 22 and possesses that ‘it factor, a killer instinct’. He just resonates a vibe that Tatum doesn’t have. If I was picking between the 2 right now I take Ant all day, regardless of numbers. He is willing to go to war and has everything at his disposal to back it up.

Someone like KD doesn’t just gush about you after you sweep his team for no reason. Ant has something that can’t be coached.

KD gushed about Tatum too when he got swept by him.

He also gushed about his Olympic teammate Tatum as the next leader of USA basketball, and spent time training with Tatum one offseason.

[thinktank]

After one series? I'm gonna say no.

Tatum led his team to the ECF's as a rookie and was dunking on LeBron in Game 7. Been to 4 Conference Finals and 1 NBA Finals as the #1 option. Holds the NBA record with 51 points in a Game 7. Now he's joined Bron and Kobe as the only players in NBA history with 3000 playoff points before turning 27.

Ant is dope as hell and was absolutely incredible vs Suns. But he's 22 likely to have some ups and downs in this postseason as he plays better opponents, and then there's the rest of his career still to come. Give the kid a minute lol.

How is averaging 18ppg in the playoffs “ led his team to the ECF's as a rookie”?

[KGtabake]

No. He certainly has the potential to do it.
Basically he has the potential to be the best player in the league.
In an era dominated by the top bigs(meaning that the best players are bigs) that's certainly impressive.
But for now, obviously not.
Tatum is playing in conference finals almost always.

[BruttoNostra]

The same people who overreact to a First Round victory over a Zero Defence Suns, will be the first to scream "overrated" when/if Wolves lose a series.
Ant is awesome, Minnesota fans couldn't be happier (and basketball fans in general - he's a fun player to follow, not dirty, not a flopper), but you need at least to reach the Conference Finals before having multiple First Page threads about your superiority.

To make it clear - And has an awesome season, his trajectory has no limits and even if he loses 0-4 to the Nuggets, it still will be a great 22yo season for him.

[KG Leonard]

Potential doesn't mean anything compared to playoffs series wins, the facts of producing for years as a superstar in playoffs.

Ja Morant was great, winning with his team over 50 wins, playoffs series two years ago. Zion was a monster producing Giannis offensive numbers in RS. Where are they now? They are only 1 and 2 years older than Ant. That is the proof of overhyping, overrating young all-stars.

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[NoStatsGuy]

Tatum he never shown "IT" he said he wants to be like kobe, people want him to be kobe. Hes very good but Ant is THAT dude, he dont have to tell us. we all see it.

[brutalitops]

Nah. I think Edwards has the ability to pass Tatum, But Tatum is 26 and probably a top 5 player in the league who is the best player, on the clear best team in the league.

You can say Edwards is a top 10 player. I have been, But sometimes runs on the board do count, Give it another season and if Edwards is continuing his player and cleans up some of his silly mistakes during the regular season then yeah, possibly

[brutalitops]

Tatum he never shown "IT" he said he wants to be like kobe, people want him to be kobe. Hes very good but Ant is THAT dude, he dont have to tell us. we all see it.

dude who averages 26.5/8/7 in elimination games isn't that dude?

[brutalitops]

After one series? I'm gonna say no.

Tatum led his team to the ECF's as a rookie and was dunking on LeBron in Game 7. Been to 4 Conference Finals and 1 NBA Finals as the #1 option. Holds the NBA record with 51 points in a Game 7. Now he's joined Bron and Kobe as the only players in NBA history with 3000 playoff points before turning 27.

Ant is dope as hell and was absolutely incredible vs Suns. But he's 22 likely to have some ups and downs in this postseason as he plays better opponents, and then there's the rest of his career still to come. Give the kid a minute lol.

How is averaging 18ppg in the playoffs “ led his team to the ECF's as a rookie”?

at 19 he was the most consistent player on Boston and while they were missing their best player Tatum stepped up and while Brown averaged a point or two more, Jayson Tatum was the best player on that Celtic team which took Cavs to game 7

[hauntedcomputer]

Ant leads the league in overenthusiastic first-round hype, that's for sure. Face of the league. The new MJ.

Schadenfreude is waiting in the shadows...

[Mr Peanut]

Not yet, but the gap is closing. If Minnesota somehow did win the championship this season while Boston flames out with Tatum not stepping up in the big games then an argument could start to be made.

[tsherkin]

A bit early for this, though it does feel like it could be a viable argument by the end of this postseason. A little wait and see action to follow first, I think. Tatum's pretty good and has played a lot more in the postseason. Ant is just now exiting the first round and gearing up to show us what he can do over a more extended run.

Should be fun to watch.

[NoStatsGuy]

Tatum he never shown "IT" he said he wants to be like kobe, people want him to be kobe. Hes very good but Ant is THAT dude, he dont have to tell us. we all see it.

dude who averages 26.5/8/7 in elimination games isn't that dude?

noone cares about stats in this debate. thats what you guys dont get. Tatum doesnt have it, it is what it is.

He says he wants all that smoke, but it doesnt look like he wants it.

[life_saver]

Tatum was drafted into one of the best positions for a top3 pick in recent times and he also has been playing in a relatively weak Eastern conference when compared to West..Celtics did reach ECF in his first season but it's not like he was the one who carried them. He averaged like 16-17 ppg and in his 2nd season when they lost vs Bucks in ECSF, Tatum averaged 12ppg. So Tatum at Ant's age wasn't doing the things in playoffs that Ant has been doing in playoffs at age of 20-22. Tatum might be slightly better now but the difference isn't anything significant

[Rancid669]

If i’m starting a team today, i’m taking Ant. More exciting to watch, plays in a tougher conference, and doesn’t seem like the type to lose to an 8th seed on his home floor.

[Anticon]

Tatum is an all NBA player that has never really been an MVP caliber player. He's also been a bit of a system player in Boston, which is up there with Miami in making players look good.

I've always been a fan, but I do wonder how Tatum would fare in a situation where he had to be the system vs playing in one like in Boston. He doesn't have the same impact as Jokic, Luka or Curry in that sense.

Doesn't make it him any less great, but does make him a bit tricky to rank.

Edwards though, despite his big moments, needs to become a lot more consistent and impactful to get ahead of Tatum. He'll have the chance with a stable structure in the next few years.

[tsherkin]

Jayson Tatum.

I remember him coming up short in 2022 against Golden State and having turnover issues that whole postseason. I remember him shooting under 44% FG in the playoffs apart from 2018 and 2023 and generally being an unimpressive postseason scorer outside of volume. I remember his middle game being fairly unimpressive, and thus watching him live and die by his 3pt shooting.

He's a good defender. He's a particularly good rebounder for his position. He moves the ball reasonably well, though nothing special. He supports volume reasonably well over the RS, especially these past two seasons (+2.6% and +2.4% rTS), but nothing legendary. For whatever odd reason, he was 4th in the MVP vote last year, which didn't make a ton of sense to me, but he's still pretty good.

In the RS, he's got an excellent case against Edwards, because Ant isn't that stunning during the regular season apart from his aesthetics. Come the playoffs, they have been two different animals... though as others have mentioned, Ant has fewer games under his belt in the postseason than in which Tatum played during the 2018, 2020, 2022 AND 2023 playoffs, so there are some issues of sample size.

Tatum's good. I'm not a huge fan of the trend we see all over this board where comparisons are all about undercutting the value of one player in order to elevate another. There's no doubt that Tatum is an exceptional tier-two player. He's been vital to Boston's success. I think that some of his luster is occasionally lost next to Jaylen Brown, but they do quite well together.

Ant basically has 15 games which let him be in conversation with Tatum, so we should probably slow that down a little until we have more of a sample. And Tatum could do with a little more respect. Yeah, he isn't MJ, but he's pretty damned good regardless.