Jayson Tatum is scoring more, but he's shooting no better

Jayson Tatum is scoring more than he did a year ago, and Jayson Tatum's 2026-27 stats put him 8th among NBA players at 27.1 points a game. The Boston Celtics forward is doing it across 9 games at the time of writing, in 33.8 minutes a night.

The easy read is that Tatum has simply got better. The figures tell a different story. His shooting is no sharper than last season, his rebounds have fallen from 10.0 to 6.0 and his assists have climbed from 5.3 to 7.8.

Below we go through where the extra 5.3 points have come from, how steady the scoring has been game by game, and how Tatum's averages sit against the lines on his main markets. Along the way we check Tatum's points page, his rebounds page and his assists page.

Tatum is averaging 27.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 7.8 assists in 33.8 minutes through 9 games this season. Last year he put up 21.8 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists in 32.6 minutes. That works out to 5.3 more points (27.1 minus 21.8), 4.0 fewer rebounds (10.0 minus 6.0) and 2.5 more assists (7.8 minus 5.3) a game.

Put plainly, it is a different kind of season. He is scoring and creating more and rebounding less. The side-by-side table below lays it out, with the shooting percentages included because they are the part that has not moved.

His 27.1 is still short of his best scoring year. In 2022-23 he averaged 30.1 points a game for Boston, so this is a big step up from last season but not a career high.

For the full season averages and league ranks, including where he sits against the rest of the league, the player page has the lot. If you want the league picture around him, the NBA standings and NBA power rankings show where his team sits.

The extra scoring is not coming from Tatum getting more accurate. He is taking 19.6 shots a game and hitting 42.0% from the field, which is 0.9 points better than last season's 41.1%. From three he is at 31.3%, down from 32.9%.

Minutes do not explain the jump either. He is on the floor for 33.8 a night against 32.6 last season, only 1.2 more. With the minutes almost the same and the percentages flat, the extra 5.3 points are not the result of sharper shooting.

Tatum's career marks are 45.8% from the field, 36.8% from three and 84.5% from the line over 610 games. This season he is below the first two: 42.0% and 31.3%. His 89.3% from the free-throw line is the one number ahead of his career line.

So the picture is a scorer putting up big totals while shooting under his own norm. That can read as encouraging or worrying depending on your view. For a look at how other players compare, the NBA player comparison tool puts two players side by side.

The cost shows up on the glass. Tatum grabbed 10.0 rebounds a game last season and is at 6.0 now, while his assists have gone the other way, from 5.3 to 7.8. He has gone from a rebounder who scores to a scorer who passes.

The single-game range is narrow. His rebound totals this season run from 4 to 9, with the 9 coming in a home game and 4 in the road game at Milwaukee on 8 November and again in the oldest game on the log. The rebounds line on his market is 5.5 against that 6.0 average.

Assists are the mirror image. His line is 7.5 against a 7.8 average, and he has reached 9 twice and 11 once in his nine games. For who else is on the Celtics, the Celtics roster has the full list, and the NBA starting lineups page shows who is playing.

The assist jump is the second big change in his numbers. At 7.8 a night he is passing the ball far more than the 5.3 he averaged last year, and his career average of 3.9 is now well behind him.

Taken together, the points, assists and rebounds describe a player who is creating more and rebounding less. That is a fair summary of what the figures show, and it does not claim to know why.

The average hides a lot of swing. Looking at Tatum's game log, his nine games run from a season high of 40 points to a low of 13 in the oldest game on the log. He has led the Celtics in scoring in 5 of those 9 games.

Over his last five games Tatum has averaged 26.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 31.8 minutes, so the recent form is close to the season line. That stretch includes 21 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists at Milwaukee on 8 November and 34 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists at Charlotte on 6 November. Those are the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets.

Anyone tracking how often a player clears a line over a run can check NBA prop streaks, and NBA player streaks covers the hot and cold runs across the league. The NBA hit rates page shows how often players clear their lines.

Set against the lines on his main markets, Tatum's season averages clear every one. The margins are thin on points, where 27.1 sits 0.6 above a 26.5 line, and on assists, where 7.8 is 0.3 above 7.5.

The clearest gaps are on threes, where his 2.3 a game is 0.8 above a 1.5 line, and on steals, where his 0.8 sits 0.3 above 0.5. Combined points, rebounds and assists average 40.9 against a 40.5 line.

You can browse today's NBA player props to see how these lines are set across the league, or the wider NBA props hub. An average above a line does not mean it clears every night, and the game log above shows how much his output moves. The NBA stats matrix lays out game-by-game numbers in the same style.

Tatum's next test is away at the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday 10 November 2026 at 8:00 PM ET. The Celtics are 8-2 coming into it.

It is the next look at whether the scoring-over-rebounding pattern holds. The 76ers v Celtics game preview has the lineups, the market line and Tatum's prop lines for the matchup. The NBA schedule and NBA results pages cover the rest of the slate, and the latest NBA news and NBA injuries are worth a look before tip-off.

The finding so far is simple: more points, more assists and far fewer rebounds, with the shooting percentages no better than last season. To see every Tatum number on the player page, including his career splits and league ranks, it is all in one place. You can also follow the action on NBA live scores.

Odds and projections are for information only. Please gamble responsibly. 18+ (21+ where required). These are game statistics, not settled bets.