Celtics Players Under Most Pressure Entering 2024-25 NBA Season
After finally realizing their NBA championship potential, the Boston Celtics spent the summer breathing a big sigh of relief.
Well, that and throwing copious (perhaps unsustainable?) amounts of cash at their banner-raising roster.
The Celtics, surely swayed last season's wire-to-wire run of dominance, made talent retention their primary offseason focus and are reflecting running back an identical group.
What's perhaps changed a bit, though, is which players will enter the campaign with the most pressure to perform. Run this exercise one year ago, and you might be tempted to put Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown under the magnifying glass since they'd yet to prove they could lead their team to ultimate triumph. Now, though, those players are spared from this discussion, leaving the following three players to face the most scrutiny instead.
Sam Hauser
1 of 3
You could argue Sam Hauser already emerged from the biggest pressure cooker he'll face in his career. Between finding his way onto an NBA roster as an undrafted rookie and then forcing his way into this win-now rotation one three-point laser at a time, he has already defied the odds with his obstacle-clearing abilities.
But he's not some clearance-priced, feel-good story any longer. Now, he's a mainstay in this rotation and a recent recipient of a four-year, $45 million extension.
With this new pay rate comes an entirely new set of challenges, along with the expectation that he'll meet them. He isn't a pleasant surprise any more, he is someone Boston is counting on contributing at a high level on a consistent basis.
Oh, and if this newfound attention seems to rattle Hauser at all, Boston seemingly has a replacement plan in place with first-round rookie Baylor Scheierman. Hauser may have done enough to get paid, but the challenge of earning that money is just beginning.
Kristaps Porziņģis
2 of 3
As a jumbo-sized shooter who can protect the paint and create scoring chances in a pinch, Kristaps Porziņģis arrived with missing-piece potential last offseason.
He mostly lived up to that hype. He was an efficient third scoring option (20.1 points on 51.6/37.5/85.8 shooting) who controlled the defensive interior, cleaned the glass and converted his perimeter shots at an above-average rate.
The one thing he couldn't do, though, was shake his old nemesis, the dreaded injury bug. He couldn't hit the 60-game mark—which he's only cleared once since 2016-17—and missed most of Boston's postseason run with leg issues that eventually forced him under the knife.
He is a difference-maker when he plays, but the questions regarding whether the Celtics can trust him to be available persist. What's more, they could loom as large as ever with Al Horford having turned 38 years old, and none of Boston's backup bigs having shown they can capably hold down the fort in Porziņģis' absence.
Jaden Springer
3 of 3
In light of their new, nine-figure pay raises, both Jayson Tatum and Derrick White were considered for this spot. Considering, however, that each just filled a pivotal role on a championship team—and then aided in Team USA's Olympic gold medal run—it's safe to say their positions in the hoops world's hierarchy are pretty firmly established.
Jaden Springer, on the other hand, has yet to establish himself as an NBA player. He is running out of time to do that, too, since his current contract is set to expire after this upcoming season.
The athletic guard is a nuisance on defense, but does he offer enough offense to not get schemed off that end of the floor? His stat line is so far unconvinced. He's a career 41.8 percent field-goal shooter and 22.6 percent perimeter shooter with a barely discernible gap between his averages in assists (0.8) and turnovers (0.6).
If there are any residents left on Springer Island, they might hinge their belief on his age (21) and theoretical upside as a relatively recent first-round pick (No. 28 in 2021). This league only holds out hope for so long, though, so if Springer can't turn heads now, he could easily wind up being overlooked next offseason.
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