Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown fall shy of earning NBA’s Most Improved Player award

The Boston Celtics have two budding, young superstars on their roster in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

But neither Tatum nor Brown was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player Monday even after making a significant leap in their play this season

Tatum finished fourth in the voting, several spots ahead of his teammate Brown, who ended up in 12th place. New Orleans’ Brandon Ingram earned the honor of Most Improved while Miami’s Bam Adebayo followed closely behind and Dallas’ Luka Doncic finished a distant third.

After a down sophomore year, the 22-year-old Tatum made his mark on NBA this season as he was named to his first All-Star team. Tatum, who earned three first place votes for Most Improved Player, became a prolific scorer for the Celtics this season, averaging 23.4 points per game, nearly eight more points per contest than a year ago. Tatum also became a marksman from beyond the arc, shooting 40.3 percent from downtown on 7.1 attempts per game. Tatum showed much improved defense as well, emerging into an all-around difference-maker for Boston.

While Brown ended up just on the outskirts of being an All-Star in his fourth season, the 23-year-old developed into as a dynamic threat alongside Tatum. Brown upped his production in points — from 13.0 points per game to 20.3 — along with increasing his totals in rebounds (6.4) and assists (2.1) from last season. Brown also improved his 3-point shooting by hitting 38.2 percent of his treys compared to sinking 34.4 percent from a season ago.