NBA Pressure Rankings: Who will make the most heat this season?

Training camp is the time of year when everyone in the NBA has to believe that things will be different. But some people need the middle of the day more than the goods. They need time to change the behavior of their careers, to confirm their decisions or to convince their boss to pay them. Another disappointing year could mean losing a championship, a franchise, or a job.

Welcome to the NBA Pressure Rankings. Let’s pick the players, coaches, and front office executives to figure out the 10 people feeling the most heat entering this season.

(Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

Durant is 38 when the season begins. He has two rings, two Finals MVPs, and a resume that puts him among the greatest players of all time. We can make things worse. But failing in Oklahoma City, Brooklyn and Phoenix are the only bold critics who say the state is riding golden belts to championships it could not win elsewhere. A win in Houston would change that conversation. But how many more coincidences will it take?

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Houston won 52 games despite missing Fred VanVleet all season and losing Steven Adams halfway through it. Durant helped carry the Rockets through 78 games before knee and ankle injuries limited him to one appearance in a first-round loss to the Lakers. Better health offers hope. But Houston’s refusal to make competitive offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo suggests maintaining a young core remains a priority.

If this season worsens, veterans could be on the fence. That includes KD. After last season’s confirmed allegations that he had been insulted by a back burner program, another ugly exit would put his leadership under even more scrutiny. Durant had to start again with another book to end and less time left to win.

After blowing a 3-1 lead in the first round, the Magic fired Jahmal Mosley and hired Sean Sweeney as head coach. But the number was largely kept the same with only Nikola Vučević replacing Moe Wagner. So be sure! Orlando is betting that a new coach will produce substantially different results with essentially the same players.

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Better health would help. Francis Wagner missed the final three games against Detroit. Maybe Mosley would still be the coach now if Wagner had stayed on the floor. But let’s assume Sweeney changes the system and the core of the healthy hand. What happens if the goal is still the same: the mid-40s wins, the inconsistent story of Wagner and Paolo Banchero, and another early issue of the story?

Well, the scrutiny ranged from coaching choices to executives who could move the team together. Weltman has already completed the first four and switched to get Desmond Bane to fix Orlando’s woeful 3-point shooting. It helped, but not enough. So if major technical and coaching change isn’t enough, what’s next?

Weltman’s recent contract extension suggests ownership trusts him to find the answer. But the office of security does not make the decision any easier. Would the minor move enough? Do Banchero and Wagner have a breakup? Odds are things are going to change. Let’s see what Weltman has up his sleeve.

Syon will play 62 games next season. The Pelicans won by 26. It was nice to see something better from the notoriously injured star. Are we sure Zion is the best player on the playoff team?

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Williamson’s ball is on the edge, whether it’s a dribble or making a cut or roll. But the cast remains reluctant.

“It’s not that I don’t want to send them, I hate when I miss them,” Williamson told reporters in February. Nice Sion to admit how he really feels, but he told me the same interview in 2022. Four years ago! Gotta get it at some point.

As a 70% guy from the line with a soft touch in the paint, he has a competent perimeter shooter. Yes, Sion might hate the missing shot, but it would be necessary to get the Pelican’s start.

When I visited Denver after their 2023 championship, then-Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth talked about building a dynasty. The Nuggets haven’t been out of the second round since. Booth was fired at the end of the 2024-25 NBA season on the same day as longtime head coach Michael Malone.

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Team president Josh Kroenke deserves scrutiny for what happened on the roster around Nikola Jokić. But if Denver fails again, it won’t be the owner’s son on the hot seat. Ben Tenzer, Denver’s executive vice president of basketball operations.

With an injury-prone starting lineup and a light bench, the Nuggets are looking less and less like a potential dynasty as the rest of the West ascends. Kroenke should feel the pressure to raise more flags as long as Jokić is in Denver. But Tenzer is the one who cares what if it doesn’t happen.

Duren followed an All-NBA season with a disastrous season. His scoring plummeted from 19.5 points per game to 10.2, and his field goal percentage dropped from 65 to 51.4. During Game 5 against the Cavaliers, Paul Reed played the entire fourth quarter and overtime with Duren watching from the bench.

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Baker’s day is today, and Duren remains unsigned after a long summer of contract negotiations. Earlier this month, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported that Detroit was offered five years and $190 million, but Duren at least $200 million. If that doesn’t happen, he plans to take a $9.6 million qualifying offer as a free agent next summer. That’s quite a gamble!

The Bakers are building around Cade Cunningham, but the team will experience another crash heading into the playoffs unless Duren has a sustainable breakout last year and carries over to the playoffs — no matter what contract he signs. Otherwise, in Baker’s view, it will be another type of center to match up with Cunningham.

“If you know Steve and you know Steve’s integrity, you know it’s nothing,” Frank said in April of the clipper investigation. Months later, investigators used Franke’s personal information to document Steve Ballmer’s involvement in helping Kawhi Leonard obtain extra income.

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Franke had long been rumored to be the Indiana student manager who secretly exposed Bob Knight’s infamous 1991 locker room rant. When Frank was an assistant coach for the Nets in 2013, head coach Jason Kidd removed him from the bench due to rumors that he undermined Frank Kidd. Franke vehemently denied any involvement in the equestrian controversyand Kidd’s drama was never confirmed. But Frank’s role in the private interviews Ballmer documents in the investigation of the report and the investigators believe Frank is there to cooperate, to give consistent answers and to accept responsibility.

Investigators also identified Frank as one of the three most serious Clippers breaking NBA rules, and as a result, Ballmer was suspended for one year and fined $30 million, the Clippers lost five first-round picks, and Frank received a six-month suspension. Frank deserves credit for helping investigators determine what happened, but how can they perceive Frank Ballmer’s actions?

After Frank returns, he will need to show that he has faith in the decision of the Clippers after Kawhi is available with fewer draft picks to increase his number. Ballmer already knows he can trust Frank as much as he can throw at him. So if Ballmer comes back and decides he needs to start a new franchise, Frank will have to convince him that he’s the right guy for the job.

Not so long ago, I saw Morant as the future face of the NBA. This summer, Memphis traded him to Portland for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. That return tells you how much the price has fallen.

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But now Ja has two years left on his contract and a new start. He needs to stay available, get his rhythm back, and give the Blazers a reason to keep him around for the long haul. Another period of instability makes the next contract a very different discussion.

I have always been a fan of James Harden. But even Harden standing to confess his act of destruction cannibalized the conversation about greatest virtues. Harding is one of the greatest defenses in major league history and the author of some incredible big moments. But what is the report? “Choker.”

The Cavaliers have taken 14 games through the inexperienced Raptors and the vicious Pistons. Then the Knicks snatched them, missing a 22-point fourth quarter in the open, and the last by 37. In the two Game 7s that Cleveland won, they combined for 27 points on 5-for-19 shooting. Then in the Eastern finals, they scored 16 points, shot 17.9% from 3, and made 17 turnovers to only 12 assists. The way Harden finished and Cleveland lost on the road, it’s hard to feel anything good about how the year went.

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Winning sponsorship in Cleveland wouldn’t change the past, but it would certainly change the way people talk about Harden’s legacy. The East is wide open for the Cavaliers to have real shots. 37. But the age, the time of the time.

Jeanie Buss was Pelinka’s most important partner. He hired him to run the high school, and the family gave him protection through all the odds. But when the second transition of ownership took place, Jeanie’s control weakened.

Pelinka’s authority was already under scrutiny under Mark Walter, who brought in Dodgers executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi as advisers. Now that Walters has sold the team, new owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger may want their own men running basketball operations.

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Pelinka remains in custody for now though, and he replaces LeBron James with a roster that, on paper, makes sense around Luka Dončić.

This summer, the Lakers acquired two starters and two trades for center Walker Kessler, adding Cameron Carr, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Luka has a center to send lobs, shooters to find when help comes, and other guards who can create shots without him. Austin Reaves also signed a four-year, $185 million deal. Worst opponents by 9.9 points per 100 possessions with him and Luka together last season, per DataBallr.

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Who protects the edge if Acipenser is injured? Ugly sharks have little firm depth behind them, and too few fins to contribute to either end. Offense won’t be a problem in Los Angeles, but defense will certainly be the cause of death come playoff season. Another issue is that Pelinka doesn’t necessarily want to lose his job. But the new owners are confident they can build another one around Luka.

Orbital fractures. Shake it off. Knee tendinitis. Torn meniscus. Thumb laceration. Bell’s palsy. Appendices. We’ve already said “Embiid is injury prone.” We’re in the “Embiid curse” when you traded the Sixers to bring Markelle Fultz, traded future champion Mikal Bridges on draft night for Zhaire Smith, whose career was derailed by a peanut allergy, and then there was the Ben Simmons era. There was a four-bouncer on the rim when Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 shooter in 2019. Hell, the Sixers even lost their GM to his wife’s burner accounts!

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LeBron chose Philly, Maxey keeps getting better, and Edgecombe could be ready for a bigger role. Nick Nurse has enough flexibility and depth to give Embiid more nights and ask less of him when he plays. Maybe the Sixers can finally carry him through the season without treatment.

But what if Embiid gets hurt anyway? Bob Myers and Mike Gansey will have to decide how many more seasons they want to deal with his health. Here are the new ones. For the fans who lived through the process and everything that followed, Embiid’s process would be much harder. But perhaps the front office trade moves the Sixers closer to a championship. However, I would hate to see Embiid try to win all those years in Philly only to have them finally do it without him.

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