The Top 20 small forwards in 2023-24

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

2023-24 stats: 26.5 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.6 bpg, 46.2 FG%, 35.9% in 93 games
Salary ranking: No. 37 ($32,600,060)

Jayson Tatum this year became the first player ever to lead his team in playoff scoring, rebounding and assists during a championship run and not win Finals MVP. However, when you look closer at the numbers, his scoring was inefficient in the postseason, even more so in the Finals, enough to somewhat justify the decision by voters.

Jayson Tatum is the first player to lead an NBA champion in playoff scoring, rebounds and assists and NOT win Finals MVP since the award exists.

Larry Bird: 1984
Hakeem Olajuwon: 1994
Tim Duncan: 2003
LeBron: 2012, 2013 and 2016
Nikola Jokic: 2023

All those won Finals MVP. pic.twitter.com/0nDLDWvx79

— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) June 18, 2024

So it’s tough to come up with a conclusion for that playoff run for Tatum. On the one hand, he put up a 25/9/6 stat line with over a steal per game. On the other, he shot the ball poorly, especially in the Finals, while his star wing teammate was more efficient with better defense. Tatum also rarely got tested late in games this postseason since Boston had not-the-most-difficult path to the championship. (Boston’s 2024 title run was the fourth-easiest of the 2000s and the 20th-easiest all-time, based on opponent regular-season win percentage, and that’s without even accounting for all of the injuries to Eastern Conference All-Star this playoffs.)

Tatum shot 42.7 percent from the floor and 28.3 percent from three in the postseason, 38.8 percent and 26.3 percent in the Finals. Let’s put it this way: If you replace 2024 Playoff Doncic with 2024 Playoff Tatum in the postseason, does Dallas even get out of the second round, let alone win a title?

Now, all that might be a bit harsh, as Tatum was 1st Team All-NBA this season for the third straight campaign, had a great overall showing and now has a championship under his belt. And we still rank him as the seventh-best player in the league this year, so it was still a massively successful year for Tatum.

It just could have been a bit more glorious with better shooting marks in the playoffs.