Which Players are Under the Most Pressure this Postseason?

The NBA playoffs are only a few days away and teams have been preparing for April, May, and June all season long. There have been several memorable moments this postseason whether it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s offensive dominance, Luka’s heartbreaking trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, or LeBron James reaching 40,000 career points. The NBA playoffs, however, are always a different animal. Some players rise to the occasion while others slump under the pressure. Today we will be discussing which star players have the most pressure to perform this postseason and talk about the importance for a legacy defining run.

5. Anthony Edwards

Anthony Edwards is having a career year in regard to points per game, three pointers made, and minutes played per game. He is currently leading the entire league in three pointers made in total and has earned the reputation of becoming a lethal three-point shooter. The Minnesota Timberwolves are currently sitting in the 6th spot in a stacked western conference. Edwards is only 23 years old, making him one of the youngest superstars in the entire league which may have you asking why he is under pressure to have a signature playoff run. For the most part, it has to do with the state of the Timberwolves during 2025. They started the year by trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle. The Timberwolves have currently won 49 games, which is a disappointing re-run of the 2024 team which won 56 games and took a trip to the Western Conference finals. In those conference finals, Edwards had struggles shooting the ball against a below average defensive team in the Dallas Mavericks. This included only shooting above 50% a singular time, which occurred in a blowout loss in game 5. During this year’s playoffs, Anthony Edwards will need to prove that he is able to consistently perform in the playoffs, especially with a matchup with the Lakers looming in their near future.

4. Jayson Tatum

Jayson Tatum is a bonafide superstar. He is a 6-time all-star, about to be 5-time all-NBA, has the most points in a game 7 in NBA history, the most playoff points of all time before turning 27 years old, and an NBA champion. With that being said, the immense disrespect from basketball fans and the NBA media is astounding. With a resume that is as complete as Tatum’s is, he is still missing a few key ingredients that will keep him from earning the respect he deserves. Now you might be wondering why Tatum on a list of is being under the most pressure to perform if his resume is what is. At the end of day, the two biggest knocks on Tatum’s status are the fact that he has not had an overly efficient playoff run yet, and the fact that he did not win finals MVP in the 2024 finals. Tatum has played 113 playoff games in his career which includes 11 finals games. In the 2022 playoffs, Tatum accumulated 100 total turnovers, which is the most in one year of all time. This included 23 during the 6 games against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. This included shooting 3 for 17 in game 1 and 6 for 18 in game 6 which inevitable ended in a 4-2 victory for the Warriors. That being said, during the 2023-2024 playoffs, Jayson Tatum lead the Boston Celtics in points, rebounds, and assists joining the likes of Bird, Olajuwon, Duncan, James, and Jokic in being the only players to lead their team in all 3 while winning the finals. Tatum averaged over 30 points in the Eastern Conference finals and averaged 22 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.2 assists in the finals but still did not win MVP in either series. In order for Jayson Tatum to gain the full respect that he clearly deserves, a deep efficient playoff run with a finals MVP to cap it off would silence the crowd for good.

3. Jalen Brunson

Jalen Bruson is in an interesting category in regard to players under the most pressure to perform this post season. Bruson has been an impressive playoff performer in the past few seasons. He averaged 35.5 points in the first round of 2024 and over 29 in the second round against the Indiana Pacers. These two series included Brunson scoring 40 points on 5 different occasions in the 13 playoff games the New York Knicks played. With all this scoring, it seems that it wouldn’t make sense that he is under the 3rd most pressure to perform during these upcoming playoffs. The answer does not stem from his past performances, it comes from what the Knicks did during the last offseason and what the Knicks have done during the regular season. The Knicks overall record (51-31) is currently the 5th best record in the entire league but when you dig deeper you realize that it is not as glorious as it appears. The Knicks are 0-9 when they are facing the Celtics, Cavs, and Thunder. Surprisingly, with, the knicks have a losing record against teams that are under .500. This leaves them in an interesting position coming into the playoffs. Before the season started, the traded Bojan Bogdanovic, Mamadi Diakite, Shake Milton, and 5 future first round picks for Mikal Bridges, who is only averaging 17.6 points on the season. Being the Knicks franchise corner stone, Jalen Brunson is going to prove that the decision that the Knicks made is going to be worth the price they paid in the future. Their revamped lineup, which includes Bridges and Towns, was put together specifically to combat the Boston Celtics which have had their number for many years. Jalen Bruson’s performance this postseason will need to be as good or better than in the past to knock off the Cavs, the Celtics, or even both.

2. Donovan Mitchell

The Cleveland Cavaliers were one of if not the best teams in the NBA during this regular season for a lot of the time. At one point the Cavs were 56-10. Currently, they sit at 64-18. The end of their season was less than ideal, and this stems back to the performances of Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell has been somewhat inconsistent this season scoring wise. He has games scoring as high as 41 points but has also gone through stretches where he has only averaged around 15 points. Mitchell signed a 3-year, $150 million contract extension last offseason and will be expected to perform like this postseason. The Cavs have no excuse to finally get over the hump during these upcoming playoffs. They have 2 potential 6th man of the year candidates, the favorite to win defensive player of the year, and the favorite to win coach of the year as well. Most likely, the only team that stands in their path is the Boston Celtics, which Mitchell has averaged over 30 PPG in 20 games against them. Mitchell has always been what fans call a “playoff riser” because of his high scoring ability and clutch gene. Therefore, combined on top of the fact that the Cavs have the second highest wins in franchise history behind the LeBron James led 2008 team, Mitchell will be highly expected to lead the Cavs to at the very least a conference finals appearance.

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander winning the MVP award, is a foregone conclusion. He has averaged a career best 32.7 points per game while shooting over 50% from the field and over 37% from three. His scoring peak is higher than anyone in the game currently and he averages over 2 points more than the next closest player, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The MVP award, as you all know, is for a player’s performance in the regular season. Once the playoffs start, that is all thrown out the window. Shai is almost 27 years old but only has one playoff series win under his belt. The lack of experience is something that he will have to combat and overcome. Last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder were the number 1 seed in the west, and they got beaten in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks in 6 games. Shai averaged just over 32 points in that series, but it was not enough to get over the hump. This year, Thunder are top 5 in almost every single category in the league, which should be a recipe for success but as said before, the lack of experience especially in their superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, could come back to bite them later. Another knock on Shai has been his ability to reach the free throw line. He makes a league high 7.9 free throws a game and a lot of non-Thunder fans find his game hard to watch because of that fact. Referees during the NBA playoffs are notorious for implement a “play on” mentality when it comes to marginal fouls, such as in 2019 when James Harden, who had a very similar play style to Shai, complained about the lack of calls during their series against the Golden State Warriors. Whether Shai will be as effective in the playoffs as he is in the regular season is yet to be seen, but he will be under immense pressure to bring home the Larry O'Brien Trophy to Oklahoma City.