What goals Jayson Tatum still has for his NBA career

“I’ve got to check off MVP, Finals MVP, and rack up some more championships.”

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics to an NBA title in June. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Getty Images)

Jayson Tatum is still looking to add multiple individual honors in his NBA career: Fresh off winning an NBA title, Jayson Tatum still has a few things he wants to achieve in his NBA career.

The Celtics’ 26-year-old star shared with NBC Sports Boston’s Chris Forsberg that he’s still looking to add at least a couple of individual awards on top of winning more titles.

“I’ve got to check off MVP, Finals MVP, and rack up some more championships,” Tatum told Forsberg on what he’s looking to cross off from his NBA to-do list.

Of course, Tatum won his first NBA title back in June, helping the Celtics beat the Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Tatum was the star in the closeout game, scoring 31 points to go with 11 assists and eight rebounds in the Game 5 win. That wasn’t enough to win Finals MVP, though. Jaylen Brown took home that honor as he averaged 20.8 points per game in the series and was the Celtics’ primary defender on Luka Doncic.

Tatum’s stated on multiple occasions that he was happy for Brown that he won Finals MVP. But it’s one of the two major individual awards that has eluded Tatum through the first seven years of his career. As Tatum also seeks his first MVP Award, he’s been on the precipice of earning that honor in the last few years. The three-time All-NBA First Team member has finished in the top six of the MVP vote in each of the last three seasons. He finished sixth in the voting last year after placing fourth in the 2022-23 season.

Tatum, who has the seventh-best odds to win MVP entering the season, refuses to believe that he’s hit his max potential as a player.

“There should be another level,” Tatum told Forsberg. “I’m only 26. I’m going into Year 8 … The motivation isn’t, ‘Oh, he didn’t play as much in the Olympics — how’s that going to feel?’”

The post-championship summer has been a unique one for Tatum. As he mentioned, Tatum didn’t play as much as expected in Team USA’s gold medal run at the Olympics, getting benched for two games. But he also earned some pretty notable individual honors, such as signing the largest contract in NBA history and being named the cover athlete for NBA 2K25.

With those off-court accolades being taken care of, Tatum has some bigger fish to fry now. In an interview with NBA TV’s Jared Greenberg earlier in the week, he shared that he was chasing Larry Bird to become the greatest Celtics player of all time. He reiterated that thought with Forsberg.

“The thing that fuels me is like, Larry Bird is the best player ever to wear a Celtic uniform,” Tatum said. “That’s the guy that, whether it’s averaging 30 [points per game] that one season or having a 60-point game and tying his record, like sometimes it’s being in the same conversation with him as far as records and things like that go.

“You should strive to be the best. He’s the best Celtic of all-time. And that’s what I’m chasing. Even if I fall short of that, a little bit, you had a hell of a career.”

Bird won three titles, three MVPs, and two Finals MVPs. So, Tatum’s work is cut out for him.

Trivia: Tatum enters the 2024-25 NBA season ranked 13th on the Celtics’ all-time scoring list. Can you name the six forwards ahead of him?

Schedule and results: The Bruins lost to the Rangers, 5-2, in a preseason matchup on Thursday. They’ll take on the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday as they move to the back half of their preseason slate.

The Red Sox begin their final series of the season on Friday. They host the Rays for a three-game set. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.

Boston College football is looking to continue the momentum from its win over Michigan State last weekend when it hosts Western Kentucky on Saturday. BC’s final game of non-conference play kicks off at noon.

Later on Saturday, the Revolution host Nashville FC in its penultimate home game of the MLS regular season. It’s hoping to snap its five-match winless streak. That match is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Finally, the Patriots take on the 49ers in the Bay Area on Sunday. Kick-off for that game is at 4:05 p.m.

Read more from Boston.com:

Five takeaways from Bruins’ preseason loss to the Rangers

Where did ESPN rank Drake Maye among backup QBs in the NFL this season?

Why ESPN pundit thinks Bill Belichick would look like a ‘clown’ coaching this team

Triston Casas explains why Red Sox getting their ‘teeth kicked in’ will be a positive

Brad Marchand gives stern challenge to Bruins’ rookies amid roster push

Craig Breslow identified multiple offseason priorities for the Red Sox

Alex Van Pelt discussed Drake Maye’s progress, challenge of facing ‘nightmare’ 49ers defender

David Andrews and other Patriots players recall their rookie mistakes

In a social media video, a few Patriots players shared the biggest mistake they made as rookies. Andrews said his was when he misjudged where Tom Brady was on a snap during a practice at Gillette Stadium. Brenden Schooler recalled the viral moment when he gave Bill Belichick a football on the sideline during a game in 2022.

Daily highlight

The Athletics said goodbye to Oakland on Thursday. They played their final game at Oakland Coliseum, defeating the Rangers, ahead of their move to Sacramento for the next three seasons. They plan to move to Las Vegas in the 2028 season.

A’s manager Mark Kotsay emotionally said goodbye to the fans in Oakland.

He also led A’s fans into a “Let’s go Oakland!” chant.

On this day

Eighteen years ago, the Red Sox officially named the right-field pole at Fenway Park after one of their most iconic players in franchise history. The Red Sox honored Johnny Pesky on his 87th birthday when they dedicated the pole in his name on Sept. 27, 2006.

While the Red Sox officially named the pole at Fenway “Pesky’s Pole” that day, many fans had already called it that name for decades. The former shortstop hit six of his 17 career homers in the majors at Fenway Park, with most of those homers being hit around the pole. However, Pesky never actually hit a home run off the right field foul pole.

The Red Sox honored Pesky again in 2008. They retired jersey No. 6 in his honor.

Trivia answer: John Havliceck, Paul Pierce, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Sam Jones, Tommy Heinsohn