On August 30, the 2022-23 NBA season remains less than 50 days away from opening night.
The NBA Finals ended in June when the Golden State Warriors defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals to win their fourth title in the last eight seasons.
Looking back on the season, it’s interesting to note that the best player for the Celtics (Jayson Tatum) led the NBA in total minutes for the 2021-22 season.
Tatum played in 3,714 minutes (including the playoffs), which was by far the most out of any player.
The next two closest players were Mikal Bridges (Phoenix Suns), who played in 3,355 total minutes and Dorian Finney-Smith (Dallas Mavericks), who played in 3,332 total minutes.
Therefore, Tatum played over 300 minutes more than the second highest player on the list.
Not only that, but Tatum also played for Team USA during the summer of 2021.
The former Duke star is only 24-years-old, so he is young enough to be playing these kinds of minutes, but it’s still something very vital to know.
During the NBA Finals, he shot just 36.7% from the field, and averaged 3.8 turnovers per game.
For reference, the All-Star forward shot over 45% from the field during the regular season, and averaged 2.9 turnovers per game.
It’s safe to say that the minutes probably caught up to Tatum, and maybe he was ultimately tired.
Now that he has had the entire offseason without playing for Team USA, it will be interesting to see how he starts the 2022-23 season.
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