‘Controversial’ Stephen A. Smith asserts Jayson Tatum has a better career than Luka Doncic so far

Luka Doncic will compete against Jayson Tatum in his first NBA finals.

‘Controversial’ Stephen A. Smith asserts Jayson Tatum has a better career than Luka Doncic so far

Stephen A. Smith claims that Jayson Tatum has a better career than Luka Doncic

Two finalists of the MVP award are competing in the NBA finals this year. As only one can win the finals MVP, the discussions about the better player have already begun. Considering the playoffs, Luka Doncic is getting recognized as the best player in the postseason for his unreal stats. However, ESPN’s analyst Stephen A. Smith has chosen Jayson Tatum to have had a better career than Doncic so far.

Stephen A. Smith strictly based his opinion on the playoff careers both have had. On ESPN’s First Take, Smith talked about Luka Doncic not making it past the first round for four of the six years in his career. According to Smith, Jayson Tatum takes the lead for his seven almost successful playoff seasons. 

I'm gonna go with Jayson Tatum, believe it or not. Here's a couple things, Luka's been in the league for six years. He's missed the playoffs twice and he's been bounced out in the first round twice. So, four of the six years, he either hasn't gotten past the first round or hasn't made it to the first round at all.
Stephen A. Smith said

Smith did acknowledge that Doncic’s stats this season are significantly better than Tatum’s. However, Tatum’s five conference finals appearances and two finals appearances are much more than Doncic’s. Smith then concluded by saying that the upcoming finals will provide ‘a definitive answer’ to the debate.

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Despite coming extremely close more than a few times, Tatum has not won a championship yet. If Doncic manages to clinch the title before Tatum, many debates will be settled by themselves. As Tatum lost the conference MVP, all eyes are set on the star’s performance in the finals while going up against the WCF MVP.

Stephen A. Smith believes Jayson Tatum cannot play bad in the finals regardless of the championship win

Despite Smith suggesting that the championship win between Tatum and Doncic will settle debates about their better career, the analyst has no problem with Tatum losing in the finals. For Smith, Tatum should only try and avoid a poor performance against the Mavericks.

On First Take, Smith stated that the aftermath of Tatum’s bad outing would be much more than the star’s championship loss. As the Mavericks have two stars who can dominate, the championship loss would not be as embarrassing as a bad performance. Because people will point fingers at Tatum’s underwhelming performance for the team’s loss. 

He cannot play bad in this series… He doesn't necessarily have to win the championship...What can't happen with Jayson Tatum is that if Boston loses, and he's the biggest reason why, that would be disastrous.
Stephen A. Smith said

Smith referenced Tatum’s performance against the Warriors in the 2022 finals, where Jaylen Brown was the better player. As the star is in the finals again and Brown won the ECF MVP, Tatum’s performance would be under a microscope for the entire series.

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