Did Shai surpass Jayson Tatum last year

[bkkrh]

According to a lot of people, apparently yes.

According to me and numbers and results, no.

This is an incredibly misleading graphic. He asked about LAST YEAR. Here are their 2024 playoff stats.

SGA

PPG 30.2
RPG 7.2
APG 6.4
SPG 1.3
BPG 1.7
FG% 49.6
3P% 43.2

Tatum

PPG 25.0
RPG 9.7
APG 6.3
SPG 1.1
BPG 0.7
FG% 42.7
3P% 28.3

SGA has better stats in every category except rebounds. I'm down for hearing that Tatum was a better player last year, but posting what you did is not a proper response to the question "Did Shai surpass Jayson Tatum last year"

And one played 4 playoff rounds and one played 2. It's pointless to compare those stats.

To go with Shai he had 1 outstanding game against New Orleans and 3 bellow his standards. He shot 29% from 3 and was in every area under his regular season averages. He had a consistant great series against Dallas. I definitely don't see a 6 game playoff series that his team lost as enough to surpass Tatum. Especially when both wins were more related to Luka having bad games and shooting around 30% in both of them.

[tsherkin]

According to a lot of people, apparently yes.

According to me and numbers and results, no.

So this is a misleading infographic, of course.

The record remarks are flatly stupid, because Boston has had better teams than OKC while Shai has played there. And as far as playoff averages, that couldn't be MORE disingenuous. He's been in the playoffs as a rookie, when he was a 26.5 mpg, 10.8 ppg player in the RS, and in his second season with OKC (before he was a 20 ppg scorer) and last year.

So to compare their raw averages is ridiculous in the extreme...

And the ring check remark just really reinforces it. Tatum deserves better than a comparison that superficial and poor-quality.

[Jedi32]

yes, SGA was my mvp last year.

[reload141]

No. He hasn’t.

[OkcSinceSGA]

They are both MVP or high level superstar tier, but yes SGA was better last year. Bisme and others bringing up Tatum in the playoffs he wasn’t even the best player on the finals. You can’t find one series or barely games where SGA got outplayed, let alone by multiple teammates like Derrick White and Brown.

Tatum gets carried a lot and is one of the most streaky superstars in the NBA (though he’s much better in that regard the last two years). SGA is the opposite. He’s got the lowest variance game to game of any MVP candidate outside of Jokic maybe.

Both are the same age, so who knows the future, but based on trajectory and leaps so far SGA is going to continue to peak higher. Also lol at the people picking Tatum for his defense. He’s nowhere near the defender SGA is now.

[Jaqua92]

They are both MVP or high level superstar tier, but yes SGA was better last year. Bisme and others bringing up Tatum in the playoffs he wasn’t even the best player on the finals. You can’t find one series or barely games where SGA got outplayed, let alone by multiple teammates like Derrick White and Brown.

Tatum gets carried a lot and is one of the most streaky superstars in the NBA (though he’s much better in that regard the last two years). SGA is the opposite. He’s got the lowest variance game to game of any MVP candidate outside of Jokic maybe.

Both are the same age, so who knows the future, but based on trajectory and leaps so far SGA is going to continue to peak higher. Also lol at the people picking Tatum for his defense. He’s nowhere near the defender SGA is now.

To suggest SGA is as good of a defender as Tatum, nevermind Tatum being "nowhere close to the defender SGA" is now may be the worst take there is.

Tatum is a much better defender.

That's ridiculous.

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[Jakay]

I mean I don't know what SGA has done to earn his extremely high ranking among NBA fans and analysts.

He got minutes on his national team.

(low hanging fruit trollin)

[Lalouie]

they're statistically close

sga's job is to run the team. as a pg and team orchestrator he is averaging 5apg - i don't think it's enuf
as a career 3pt shooter he's a 34%er - that's below league average - i don't think that's good enuf for a pg either.

tatum doesn't lack for any numbers and so he checks more boxes for his position. he's only short on fg%

for what they're supposed to do as elite players, tatum is better, plus wings have been the deal breaker in championship runs, and pg's haven't,,,so i'll take the more valuable POSITION. i'd rather have a great wing and average pg than great pg and average wing

[Grahf]

They are both MVP or high level superstar tier, but yes SGA was better last year. Bisme and others bringing up Tatum in the playoffs he wasn’t even the best player on the finals. You can’t find one series or barely games where SGA got outplayed, let alone by multiple teammates like Derrick White and Brown.

Tatum gets carried a lot and is one of the most streaky superstars in the NBA (though he’s much better in that regard the last two years). SGA is the opposite. He’s got the lowest variance game to game of any MVP candidate outside of Jokic maybe.

Both are the same age, so who knows the future, but based on trajectory and leaps so far SGA is going to continue to peak higher. Also lol at the people picking Tatum for his defense. He’s nowhere near the defender SGA is now.

A mostly reasonable post, but I think your bias came out pretty strongly here at the end. Since SGA came to OKC, Tatum has had a better defensive rating than him every year except for last year, when SGA was better by less than a single point. Then when you consider that Tatum is far more versatile, able to defend more positions, and is a much better rebounder...

There's simply no evidence to say that Tatum is "nowhere near the defender SGA is now." If anything, the opposite is closer to being true.

[jbk1234]

SGA plays better defense more consistently, but Tatum is capable of locking in and his size gives him the ability to guard more positions.

Generally, I'm partial to the taller guy who shoots better. Also, I'm always a little down on players who average more than 6 FTA per game because it's almost always is a result of at least one unearned trip to the foul line. SGA is an immensely talented player, but the way he's allowed to use his hands on the perimeter and gets rewarded for barreling into the paint bothers me.

[Ssj16]

If we are being objective and looking at last year's season, you can easily make the case that SGA surpassed Tatum. SGA played amazing in the playoffs with a real team, played amazing for team Canada and has the 23/24 stats to back it up. Meanwhile, Tatum did not even get finals MVP and did not even look good during his stints for team USA.

That being said, Tatum is looking like he's regained the position as the better player at the moment.

[Statlanta]

Gilgeous-Alexander is the de facto leader of his franchise. The guy with the most playoff experience and the guy with lead ball-handler responsibilities. There are no 2000, 1980, 1970, 1960s legends in his organization he gets to receive advice on how to get championship experience or lead a team to that area

Tatum gets to play with guys who played with Popovich, Budenholzer and in Holiday's case was an NBA champion before joining his team. He plays for a storied franchise and doesn't have to be the best defender or best scorer or best playmaker. He doesn't have to play with 19 year old or 20 year old players in his starting lineup.

Tatum could have better stats and even win the MVP/Title/Finals MVP this year, but his role is not as big as Gilgeous-Alexander's

[Myth]

According to a lot of people, apparently yes.

According to me and numbers and results, no.

You forgot Tatum gold 1 gold medal > SGA 0 gold medals

[TravisScott55]

Shai is better.

[Triple M]

Gilgeous-Alexander is the de facto leader of his franchise. The guy with the most playoff experience and the guy with lead ball-handler responsibilities. There are no 2000, 1980, 1970, 1960s legends in his organization he gets to receive advice on how to get championship experience or lead a team to that area

Tatum gets to play with guys who played with Popovich, Budenholzer and in Holiday's case was an NBA champion before joining his team. He plays for a storied franchise and doesn't have to be the best defender or best scorer or best playmaker. He doesn't have to play with 19 year old or 20 year old players in his starting lineup.

Tatum could have better stats and even win the MVP/Title/Finals MVP this year, but his role is not as big as Gilgeous-Alexander's

There is also much more pressure to win in Boston.

[OkcSinceSGA]

They are both MVP or high level superstar tier, but yes SGA was better last year. Bisme and others bringing up Tatum in the playoffs he wasn’t even the best player on the finals. You can’t find one series or barely games where SGA got outplayed, let alone by multiple teammates like Derrick White and Brown.

Tatum gets carried a lot and is one of the most streaky superstars in the NBA (though he’s much better in that regard the last two years). SGA is the opposite. He’s got the lowest variance game to game of any MVP candidate outside of Jokic maybe.

Both are the same age, so who knows the future, but based on trajectory and leaps so far SGA is going to continue to peak higher. Also lol at the people picking Tatum for his defense. He’s nowhere near the defender SGA is now.

A mostly reasonable post, but I think your bias came out pretty strongly here at the end. Since SGA came to OKC, Tatum has had a better defensive rating than him every year except for last year, when SGA was better by less than a single point. Then when you consider that Tatum is far more versatile, able to defend more positions, and is a much better rebounder...

There's simply no evidence to say that Tatum is "nowhere near the defender SGA is now." If anything, the opposite is closer to being true.

SGA has a +1.5 D-EPM, Tatum a +.7. SGA pretty sure also held players to lower shooting percentages. He’s also crushed Tatum in DBPM the last couple years. I literally don’t even think Tatum is the 2nd best defender on his own team, and the data shows that. He’s probably 3rd or 4th.

[bisme37]

According to a lot of people, apparently yes.

According to me and numbers and results, no.

Spoiler:

You forgot Tatum gold 1 gold medal > SGA 0 gold medals

2 gold medals actually but yeah. The thing people forgot when Kerr benched him is he was the 2nd best player on the US gold medal team at the previous Olympics at age 23.

[bisme37]

Surpass him how though? What does that even mean?

When I read "surpass" my mind went to their careers. Otherwise the question is "who had the more efficient individual offensive season last year?"

Well SGA did I guess but that's not enough to surpass anything. The other guy has had a far better career at the same age and just won a title.

My assumption when I read stuff like this is that they're talking about current player ranking rather than total accumulative career value. That's how most people tend to respond, I find.

Like I rank Tatum higher than Lebron James and say he has surpassed him in the league hierarchy as Lebron has aged.

I definitely think Shai has surpassed Tatum in terms of a general consensus on player ranking right now. Not by a whole lot though. I saw a graphic that did a composite for a bunch of player rankings (ESPN, the Ringer, 2k, Hoopshype, Action Network, CBS). Shai came in 4th (range of 3-4) and Tatum came in 6th (range of 5-10).

Yeah I get it now. I wasn't trying to be shady with my initial graphic. As I said, when I read "surpassed" my mind went to career accomplishments.

If people think Shai is a marginally better player than Tatum I cant do anything about it and it's fine with me. He's really good and had a great season, while JT's jumper was kinda wack last year. Seems like Tatum is on track to rectify that this season though. Will we have a re-surpassing??

Honestly, I think I'm just a little grumpy about the daily dragging of my guy JT and my feeling that there's a double standard with how he is viewed relative to other young superstars. He just won a title and guys are somehow surpassing him and I don't get it.

SGA is dope as hell though, so if I poo on him at times take it with a grain of salt.

[3toheadmelo]

Tatum has been playing like an MVP this season. SGA slacking.

[CodeBreaker]

SGA is on a tier ahead of Tatum right now