Celtics two-way player JD Davison has been named the G League’s Most Valuable Player of the 2024/25 season, according to an official announcement from the NBA (Twitter link).
A 2022 second-round pick, Davison has played sparingly at the NBA level in his first three professional seasons and logged just 51 minutes in 12 total appearances for the Celtics in ’24/25. He spent most of his time with the Maine Celtics, appearing in a total of 45 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games for Boston’s NBAGL affiliate.
Across those 45 outings, Davison averaged 25.6 points, 7.7 assists, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 34.6 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .482/.332/.762. Maine went just 8-8 in the Tip-Off Tournament, but the 6’1″ guard led the team to a 21-13 record and a No. 3 playoff seed in the G League’s regular season.
Salt Lake City Stars big man Oscar Tshiebwe – who is on a two-way contract with the Jazz – and Capital City Go-Go guard Jaylen Nowell finished second and third, respectively, behind Davison for the G League MVP award, which is voted on by the league’s head coaches and general managers.
Tshiebwe, known as an elite rebounder, averaged a record-setting 18.3 RPG in 42 games for Salt Lake City while also contributing 16.1 PPG, 2.8 APG, 1.8 SPG, and 1.1 BPG. The Stars, like the Celtics, finished the regular season with a 21-13 record.
Nowell isn’t currently on an NBA roster, but he earned call-ups with New Orleans and Washington over the course of the season. The veteran guard spent most of the year with the Wizards‘ G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, for whom he averaged 24.7 PPG, 5.4 APG, 4.3 RPG, and 1.1 SPG with an impressive .526/.479/.901 shooting line. The Go-Go posted a 20-14 regular season mark.
JD Davidson deserves a real shot. He’s Will it come with the Celtics?
The G-League has ruined the NBA. Instead of recognizable guys like Mickael Pietrus, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Richardson, Luke Ridnour, Kyle Korver, Raja Bell, Elton Brand, Tyrus Thomas, D.J. Augustin, Arron Aflalo, Dwight Howard, and other guys who we’d recognize, now we got some J.D. Davison, DaQuan Jeffries, Josh Minott, Chris Livingston, Daeqwon Plowden, Drew Timme, and Elijah Harkless
What are you even talking about lol comparing a bunch of elite role players to G league guys?
The Boston Celtics would not agree. Sam Hauser, Payton Prichard, etc started out in the G League.
Most of those guys belong in a retirement home at this point
The NBA is dead
Bring back the CBA
I’m a Boston fan and JD doesn’t belong on the NBA roster in my opinion. The G league wouldn’t be a top 10 league in the world.
G-League numbers are clearly misleading. The players’ size and defense is nowhere near the same level. Nobody wants to get hurt. Hard to blame them. Just not a natural transition to go to the NBA from there.
College intensity is much closer. College also has less space so the NBA is actually easier. However, the size, strength, and speed of players in the NBA are much higher overall. That’s the biggest hurdle for most players coming in from other leagues.
The real problem is that the NBA has not put much effort into developing the GLEAGUE. It has only been a couple of years that every team had an affiliate. Now they just need to work on coaching.