NBA Stars and Players with the Most to Prove
Every NBA player is under immense pressure.
Pro sports breeds it, fandom mandates it and social media has multiplied and amplified it over and over. No player is spared from it..
However, there are different degrees of pressure that stars typically encounter more than anyone. They are the faces of their teams.
Some names are up against more scrutiny, both external and internal, than others. And it's those players we'll look to identify here.
Anyone incurring the usual amount of high-stakes pressure will be filtered out of this field. Stars headlining title contenders generally have more on the line than those who don't.
This exercise is less about players trying to further or validate championship legacies and more about those brushing up against more existential pressures, mainly the fates of their teams this season and beyond.
Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
1 of 5
Some of the pressure foisted onto Anthony Davis is patently unfair. The obsession with what he's not takes on new life every time he doesn't have an iconic game or disappears for stretches.
Context needs to be more prevalent within those critiques. He is, first and foremost, a play-finisher. There are limits to how much influence he has over the offense when the Los Angeles Lakers don't feed him the ball. And getting bent out of shape because he doesn't do enough as an off-the-dribble hub makes zero sense.
Davis isn't built to be that player, not on every possession, especially if you're suggesting he needs more post touches or should be more physical on his drives. That player requires an altogether different body type. And if he was that player, he wouldn't be the same generational, everywhere-all-at-once presence he remains on the defensive end.
In actuality, his burden of proof is more wholesale: Can he be the best player on the Lakers long enough to optimize their title chances?
The first half of this question has been answered in the affirmative. He was the Lakers' best player during last year's conference finals run. The "long enough" element is a different story.
Spotty availability is part of the issue. The 30-year-old has missed 20-plus games in four of the past five seasons and hasn't made 72 appearances (or its equivalent) since 2017-18.
And then there is the offensive inconsistency. He's been largely dominant in his role to start the year, but he has looked like an MVP candidate for pockets of time before.
Can he maintain his two-way impact over weeks and months? That's the question, just as it's been for years. The Lakers better hope the answer is finally yes—not just so they can preserve age-39-season LeBron James but also because this idea that AD is their bridge into the post-LeBron era hinges on it.
James Harden, L.A. Clippers
2 of 5
James Harden just forced a trade for the third time in three years. All of these exits have unfolded in the public eye, arguably getting uglier as they went.
Mid-game moments in which he phoned it in while maneuvering his way out of Houston and Brooklyn are committed to memory. But his departure from the Philadelphia 76ers was more contentious, damningly curious and the most inexplicable.
Landing with the L.A. Clippers fails to absolve Harden of the reexamination he was largely spared when joining the Nets and the Sixers.
Murky and uninspiring playoff performances have long left him toting the burden of proof, but the question he faces now isn't "Can he live up to his superstar credentials when it matters most?" It's more like "Is age-34 Harden even worth all of this trouble and focus anymore?"
He can say what he wants about the stylistic and financial concessions he made in Philly. Some of it has merit, and we may never know the full story that prompted him to call Daryl Morey, his biggest advocate, a liar.
Still, there is a common denominator to all of his exceedingly uncomfortable exits—not to mention the generally awkward departures of high-profile running mates in Houston. It's not Morey, it's Harden himself.
More than ever, it's on the 10-time All-Star to prove he can adapt, that he's worthy of the benefit of the doubt and that he can consistently deliver in the playoffs.
Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
3 of 5
Ja Morant was always going to make this list.
He is currently serving out a 25-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the NBA. Fair or not, the length of his absence is the direct result of recurring behavior that raised public concerns. Upon his return, he will need to rebuild whatever goodwill his off-court issues squandered.
Teammates, Memphis Grizzlies fans and organization members will be quicker to forgive, maybe even forget. The rest of the league and media probably won't.
To be sure, Morant is not beyond redemption. Inferring as much is inflammatory nonsense. But to suggest he doesn't have anything to prove after all that's happened would also be misguided. On the contrary, there is even more he must prove than initially thought.
The Grizzlies are in free fall without the 24-year-old. Injuries to Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke and, more recently, Santi Aldama, Luke Kennard and Derrick Rose have complicated matters beyond measure. But Morant is the team's lone superstar, and there were hints last season that Memphis wasn't as built to survive without him as previous years implied.
Morant's absence looms largest, and his eventual return looms larger than that: The best and only hope the Grizzlies have of salvaging a season rapidly spiraling out of control and relevance.
Julius Randle, New York Knicks
4 of 5
Julius Randle's on-off relationship with All-NBA value is apparently still intact. And it is currently slogging through the off-again stage.
His shooting splits have descended into NFSW goriness. Entering Friday night, he's knocked down under 29 percent of his two-pointers and less than 26 percent of his triples. A would-be-career-low 64 percent clip at the foul line rounds out what's fast become an incomprehensibly rough start worthy of sounding alarms.
Offseason ankle surgery could be a factor here. But it's tough to write off his struggles as part of the recovery process when the New York Knicks continue to play him 33-plus minutes per night.
Lingering ankle issues also don't explain a sudden aversion to launching threes. His per-minute volume from beyond the arc is way down compared to last year, and the 28-year-old is looking conspicuously hesitant to fire away on would-be open looks.
New York's half-court offense can't afford that reluctance. Defenses are packing the paint harder than ever, and it's made life hell on Jalen Brunson.
Flickers of better playmaking from Randle aren't good enough to offset both his efficiency and shot-selection warts. The Knicks need him to open up the floor, even if only by virtue of willing outside volume.
Never mind proving he can play at an All-NBA level for consecutive seasons. If Randle is not going to replicate last year's performance, he at least needs to show he won't be an active part of the problem.
Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
5 of 5
Inconsistency continues to be Karl-Anthony Towns' calling card. That's a problem.
It's also maddening, because we have seen the best version of him in segments. He will make quick decisions off the catch. He will attack downhill off the dribble. He will throw up threes in high volume. He will run the floor. He will put up a fight on defense—harder closeouts, resistance to screens, better positioning in the pick-and-roll and away from the ball.
This is not the version of Towns the Minnesota Timberwolves have gotten thus far, though. His pockets of aggression and defensive engagement are currently the exception, residing miles and miles away from the village of The Rule.
Fundamental issues with the Wolves' roster could be at work. Then again, Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid have both thoroughly outplayed the 27-year-old. And that shouldn't be a thing ever, no matter how you feel about the core's makeup.
Minnesota desperately needs Towns to cobble together, at minimum, weeks-long momentum. He is too valuable to the offense, even with Reid teasing yet another huge step forward. He's also too expensive to be the third-best big on any roster. His $36 million salary will shoot up to $49.7 million next season, the first of a four-year, $222.7 million extension.
Whether it's showing that he can find and maintain a long-term peak on this team or that he can play well enough and long enough to bolster his trade appeal, the pressure is on Towns to prove he's more than a polarizing seesaw.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering games on Friday, Nov. 3. Salary information via Spotrac.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
