Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has “MVP goals” on his mind, and he’s using his benchings at the 2024 Summer Olympics as motivation in pursuit of that honor.

Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic provided more insight on the matter during a Pat McAfee Show appearance on Wednesday (4:35 mark).

“Jayson Tatum, he was telling people around USA basketball—and this was something that people around USA basketball heard—he really took that motivation from what happened at the Olympics. He has MVP goals in his mind, whether that’s this year. But that is fully on his mind as far as what he can accomplish in this league. You look at everything he’s done already at such a young age already, winning a championship. That is the next step for him, to rise to that MVP level.”

Tatum was benched due to coach’s decision for two of Team USA’s six games en route to a gold medal in Paris. He didn’t fare particularly well when on the court, scoring 5.3 points on 38.1 percent shooting in 17.7 minutes per game.

It was a tough blow for Tatum after he just helped lead the Celtics to 80 wins (including playoffs) and the team’s 18th NBA championship in June.

“It was a lot. In the age of social media, you see everything,” Tatum recently told The Athletic’s Jared Weiss last August. “You see all the tweets and the people on the podcasts and people on TV giving their opinion on whether they thought it was a good decision or it was an outrageous decision or whatever.

“Obviously, I wanted to contribute more, and I’ve never been in (this) situation. I started playing basketball at (age) 3 at the YMCA, and I’ve never not played, so it was different and it was challenging.”

Tatum also spoke about the benchings at the Olympics during the team’s media day.

“Did I need any extra motivation coming into the season? No, I’m not gonna give anybody in particular credit that they’re motivating me to come into the season,” Tatum said (h/t ESPN’s Tim Bontemps).

“It was a unique circumstance, something I haven’t experienced before in my playing career. But I’m a believer that everything happens for a reason. I was coming off a championship, highest of highs, cover of 2K, a new contract, and that happened. Whatever the reason is, I haven’t figured out yet. But I am a believer that everything happens for a reason.”

Regarding his MVP goal, that might be hard to achieve given the elite talent and competition he’ll face, but Tatum has also finished top six in the NBA MVP voting each of the last three years, including fourth in 2022-23.

Only two other players (two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić) can say the same. Tatum has also made All-NBA First Team each of the last three years.

As for the Celtics, they’ll look for a title defense beginning Oct. 22 against the New York Knicks.