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The NBA is a pressure-packed league and everyone feels it in one form or another: Championship pressure, legacy pressure, financial pressure, now-or-never pressure. For most players, it’s simply “make sure I stick in the league and keep getting paid” pressure.
For the players on this list, the pressure is bigger picture — legacy and championship questions. How will we remember them? For these players, a lot hinges on this season. Here are five players under the most pressure this season.
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Since Donovan Mitchell arrived four years ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the best teams in the NBA, averaging 54 wins a season in part thanks to quality guard play and an impressive front line of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. The one lingering hole in the Cleveland roster has been at the three, but this offseason the Cavaliers poached Peyton Watson from Denver to be an athletic two-way wing and fill that role. The Cavaliers reached the Eastern Conference Finals a season ago and got better this summer, they are title contenders.
If James Harden doesn’t become the new weak link.
The pressure on Harden is about legacy. To be fair, he already has an impressive and secure legacy: Harden is unquestionably a Hall of Famer, an MVP, a three-time scoring champion and the $97 million contract he signed with Cleveland this offseason will put him at more than $500 million earned in his career. On that level, his legacy is secure.
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However, he’s on track to go down as one of the greats who never won a ring, and that is why the pressure is on him. His playoff legacy is… unimpressive. It has big ups, but also some poorly timed, painful downs. This Cavaliers team is the closest one they have had to a serious contender since LeBron James left (the second time), and if it off nights from Harden in critical playoff games sink them, a decade from now the opening paragraph of stories about him will feature his playoff struggles as much as the MVP. This is Harden’s chance, he has to step up and show he can be a playoff force.
It may be a little unfair to have a 24-year-old player entering his fifth NBA season…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/five-players-facing-most-pressure-171138468.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-24 17:11:00
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