Seven NBA players under the most pressure this season

Athletes love to fall back on the cliche “pressure is a privilege” — except it may not feel like it for these seven.

Pressure in the NBA generally comes in two forms: Pressure to win and pressure to get paid. There are some of both of those on this list of the seven players facing the most pressure in the NBA this season, plus a little career legacy thrown in for a few cases (the bottom two on this list are more legacy, more “pressure is a privilege,” while the top five it is more immediate).

Here is our seven-man list, kicking off a month of NBA season preview stories.

Trae Young

Is Trae Young the guy who led the Atlanta Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021? Or is he the guy who had considerably less trade interest this summer than Dejonte Murray? More importantly, which one of those perceptions will decide Young’s pay going forward?

Young is extension eligible after this season, which puts the pressure on him to prove teams have undervalued him. Young needs to show front offices that hat he can be one of the two best players on a contending team, that he can lift up the team around him, and is not simply a stat stuffer and defensive liability. Or, at least he has to re-establish enough value to get himself paid like he expects next summer.

Atlanta has to decide that for themselves by next summer what role Young plays in their future, and they will be evaluating him this season as well. Are the Hawks still building around Young or are they moving on and doing a more traditional rebuild? If they want to move on, how much of a trade market is there? (Some corners of the Internet love to try to push Young to San Antonio, but league sources told NBC Sports that the Spurs don’t share that interest and don’t think pairing him with Victor Wembanyama would lead to a contender. Which directly speaks to why Young is on this list.)

LaMelo Ball

LaMelo Ball can be one of the most entertaining players in the NBA, he is a social media sensation, but can he win in the NBA? Can he lead a team? Or are his stats empty calories?

The pressure is on Ball this season to prove he can stay healthy — he’s played in just 58 games…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/seven-nba-players-under-most-161251174.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-09-23 16:12:51

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