The NBA playoffs are when legacies are forged. For better or worse.
Every year, the spotlight falls on a handful of players who are asked to step up when their team needs them most. It can be role players or superstars, but eventually the spotlight falls on them and how they perform in the bright lights ends up defining them, maybe their careers, and certainly their team’s playoff run.
Here are players to watch in these playoffs.
Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the soon-to-be MVP — will get his. SGA is on the short list of players who are too good to be stopped. However, at some point this postseason, a quality opponent is going to start throwing double-teams and blitzes at SGA the second he touches the ball, essentially daring anyone else on the roster to beat them.
Enter Jalen Williams. Dallas used this strategy in the second round last year, and in the final three games of that series Williams scored 14, 12, and 12 points. While he did average 5.7 assists a night across those three games, the bottom line is he was not good enough. Williams has shown he can take on more of the offense this season, but he — and Chet Holmgren, who could be listed alongside Williams here — have had some rough moments during the regular season when defenses loaded up on them.
OKC is close. SGA is ready. The Thunder’s elite defense and lock-down defenders, such as Lu Dort, will make themselves felt in the playoffs. Are Williams and Holmgren ready for that next step?
Karl-Anthony Towns
Towns took a step forward and was impressive last season during the Timberwolves’ run to the Western Conference Finals: 19.1 points and nine rebounds a game, shooting 36.1% on 3-pointers. He also played solid defense next to Rudy Gobert.
Can he continue that this season with the Knicks?
What happens when the opposing team defends KAT with a wing and has their center guarding Josh Hart or another player they don’t fear from the arc? Can Towns make them pay for that switch? Can KAT be good enough as a defensive rim protector to keep the Knicks in games? How do he and Jalen Brunson respond when they become the pick-and-roll targets of the other team?
Towns has a bigger role in New York than he had in Minnesota, and he’s going to have to live up to that responsibility.
Jayson Tatum
This is all about legacy for Tatum. He has stepped up and been the clear best player on the Celtics this season, and will have to be that again through the playoffs — something he is up for.
If Tatum can lead the Celtics to break the NBA’s back-to-back title drought (it’s been six years since the Durant-era Warriors went back-to-back, and they are the only team since 2014). Hang another banner, win Finals MVP, and Tatum’s legacy is locked down as an all-time great Celtic.
Luka Doncic
Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last year, but that was not good enough in Dallas and he was traded to Los Angeles… where he will be in even a brighter spotlight. Throughout the playoffs, he will rightfully be talked about as the franchise’s future, but it will get interesting when teams target his weaknesses.
The Lakers’ offense — with Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves — is not in question. Los Angeles will put up points. However, as a series drags on, Doncic (and Reaves) will become targets of the other team, dragged into pick-and-rolls and left on an island to defend. The Lakers could cover that in the regular season, but it gets harder to do as it gets deeper in the playoffs when teams are more focused and detail-oriented in how they want to attack. There is no Dereck Lively II or Daniel Gafford to clean things up behind Doncic now, and he will get tested.
Everything is just bigger and more dramatic with the Lakers, Doncic is about to find himself in the middle of that, especially if the Lakers lose in the second round (or earlier).
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Watch his body language. A lot of other teams will be.
Antetokounmpo played at an MVP-level this season, but despite that, the Bucks enter the playoffs on the road as the No. 5 seed, and they will be without Damian Lillard for at least the start of that series. If the Bucks fall to the Pacers in the first round (or, if they get to the second round and lose 4-1 to the Cavaliers), how frustrated does Antetokounmpo get? Ask for a trade frustrated?
That’s why everyone is watching his body language.
Jamal Murray
Do the Denver Nuggets have enough around Nikola Jokic?
The answer to that question starts with Murray. He averaged 21.4 points, 6 assists and shot 39.3% from beyond the arc this season, and his stats are very close to two years ago when Denver won the title. Still, it feels like we only saw the peak Murray/Jokic two-man game in flashes this season, not regularly. If Denver is going to make a run in these playoffs — or even get past the Clippers in a tough first-round matchup — it starts with a healthy Murray playing near his peak.
Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., Christian Braun and others are in the same boat. Everyone is going to have to step up for Denver.
Trae Young
Can the Atlanta Hawks build a winner around Trae Young?
No player feels more at a crossroads this playoffs than Young. If the Hawks advance out of the play-in and he has a big series against Boston or Cleveland, Atlanta’s front office may feel the answer is yes, Trae is part of the long-term answer with Jalen Johnson, Zaccharie Risacher and Dyson Daniels.
However, failing to get out of the play-in or getting thrashed in the first round may leave the Hawks considering a pivot. Young has two years and $95 million on his deal, and he might get shopped (how much of a market there is for him is another question). Young has been with the Hawks for seven seasons and has been to the playoffs three times. We have seen incredible highs (at the expense of the Knicks) and plenty of lows. What happens with his playoffs this year could determine where he is playing next year.
Evan Mobley
Mobley made a leap this season under coach Kenny Atkinson — he is in the mix for Defensive Player of the Year and is going to make an All-NBA team.
However, can he continue that in the playoffs? It’s going to be interesting to see how the shot balance changes in Cleveland during the playoffs, Donovan Mitchell took a step back this year to let Mobley and Darius Garland step up, in the postseason expect Mitchell to take some of that load back — and he’s more than proven he can handle it. However, if the Cavaliers are going to advance to the East Finals, and maybe the NBA Finals, it’s because Mobley (and Garland) are ready for the biggest stage and ready to handle that spotlight.
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