NBA Pressure Rankings: Who faces the most heat this season?

Training camp is the time of year when everybody in the NBA gets to believe things will be different. But some people need more than a good media day. They need a season that changes the conversation about their careers, validates their decisions, or convinces their bosses to keep paying them. Another disappointing year could mean losing a championship opportunity, control of a franchise, or a job.

Welcome to the NBA Pressure Rankings. We're choosing from players, coaches and front office executives to figure out the 10 people feeling the most heat entering this season.

Durant will be 38 when the season begins. He has two rings, two Finals MVPs and a résumé that puts him among the greatest players ever. Things could be worse. But falling short in Oklahoma City , Brooklyn and Phoenix has only emboldened the critics who say he rode Golden State 's coattails to championships he couldn't win anywhere else. Winning in Houston would change that conversation. But how many more chances will he get?

Houston won 52 games despite missing Fred VanVleet all season and losing Steven Adams midway through it. Durant helped carry the Rockets through 78 games before knee and ankle injuries limited him to one appearance in their first-round loss to the Lakers . Better health offers reason for optimism. But Houston's reluctance to make a competitive offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo suggests preserving its young core remains the priority.

If this season turns sour, the veterans could be the ones on the block. That includes KD. After last season's unconfirmed allegations that he disparaged teammates through a burner account, another ugly ending would put his leadership under even more scrutiny. Durant could be starting over again with another failed stop on his record and even 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 roster was kept largely the same with only Nikola Vučević replacing Moe Wagner . That's it, seriously! Orlando is betting that a new coach can produce substantially different results with essentially the same players.

Better health would help. Franz Wagner missed the final three games against Detroit . Maybe Mosley would even still be the coach if Wagner stayed on the floor. But let's assume Sweeney changes the system and the core stays healthy. What happens if the end result is still the same: mid-40s wins, inconsistent play from Wagner and Paolo Banchero , and another early playoff exit?

Well, the scrutiny could shift from the coach's choices to the executive who put the team together. Weltman already spent four firsts and a swap to acquire Desmond Bane to fix Orlando's woeful 3-point shooting. It helped, but not enough. So if a major trade and a coaching change aren't enough, what's next?

Weltman's recent contract extension suggests that ownership trusts him to find the answer. But job security won't make decisions any easier. Would a minor move be enough? Or would Banchero and Wagner have to get split up? Odds are something's gonna have to change. Let's see what Weltman has up his sleeve.

Zion played 62 games last season. The Pelicans won 26. Better availability was a nice thing to see from a notoriously injured star. Are we sure Zion can be the best player on a playoff team?

Williamson is a bowling ball at the rim, whether he's creating off the dribble or finishing a cut or roll. But he remains reluctant to shoot.

"It's not that I don't want to shoot them, I just hate when I miss," Williamson told reporters in February. Nice of Zion to admit how he really feels, but he said the same exact thing to me in an interview in 2022. Four years ago! You gotta get over it at some point.

As a 70% guy from the line with soft touch in the paint, he has the potential to become a competent perimeter shooter. So Zion might hate missing shots, but it might be necessary for the Pelicans to start winning.

When I visited Denver after its 2023 championship, then-Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth was talking 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.

Team president Josh Kroenke deserves scrutiny for what happens to the roster around Nikola Jokić . But if Denver falls short once again, it won't be the son of the owner on the hot seat. It'll be Ben Tenzer, Denver's executive vice president of basketball operations.

With an injury-prone starting group and a shallow bench, the Nuggets are looking less and less like a potential dynasty as the rest of the West ascends. Kroenke should feel pressure to raise more banners as long as Jokić is in Denver. But it's Tenzer who has to worry about what happens if they don't.

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

Pistons media 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 offered five years and $190 million, but Duren wants at least $200 million. And if he doesn't get it, he's considering taking the $9.6 million qualifying offer to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. That's quite a gamble!

The Pistons are building around Cade Cunningham , but the team will experience another crash landing in the playoffs unless Duren proves last year's breakout was sustainable and carries it into the playoffs — no matter what contract he signs. If not, the Pistons will be on the lookout for a different kind of center to pair with Cunningham.

"If you know Steve and know Steve's integrity, you know there's nothing to it," Frank said in April about the investigation into the Clippers. Months later, investigators used Frank's own detailed notes to document Steve Ballmer's involvement in helping Kawhi Leonard obtain outside income.

Frank has long been rumored to be the Indiana student manager who secretly recorded 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 because of rumors that Frank was undermining Kidd. Frank has vehemently denied any involvement in the Knight controversy , and the Kidd drama has never been confirmed. But Frank's role in documenting Ballmer's private conversations is right there in the investigative report, and investigators credited Frank for cooperating, giving consistent answers, and accepting responsibility.

Investigators also identified Frank as one of the three people most responsible for the 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 establish what happened, but how might Ballmer perceive Frank's actions?

Once Frank returns, he'll need to show that he has a credible plan for the Clippers after Kawhi with fewer draft assets available to improve the roster. Ballmer already knows he can't trust Frank as far as he can throw him. So if Ballmer returns and decides the franchise needs a fresh start, Frank will have to convince him that he's the right guy for the job.

Not long ago, Morant looked like a future face of the NBA. This summer, Memphis traded him to Portland for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray . That return tells you how much his value has fallen.

But now Ja has two years left on his contract and a fresh start. He needs to stay available, regain his rhythm, and give the Blazers a reason to keep him around for the long haul. Another shaky season would make his next contract a much different discussion.

I've always been a James Harden admirer. But even Harden's stans have to admit his disappearing acts have cannibalized the conversation about his greatest qualities. Harden is one of the most innovative point guards in league history and he's authored plenty of incredible playoff moments. But what's his reputation? "Choker."

The Cavaliers took 14 games to get through the inexperienced Raptors and the flawed Pistons. Then the Knicks swept them, erased a 22-point fourth-quarter deficit in the opener, and won the finale by 37. In the two Game 7s that Cleveland won, Harden combined for 27 points on 5-for-19 shooting. Then in the East finals, Harden averaged 16 points, shot 17.9% from 3, and had 17 turnovers to only 12 assists. The way Harden performed, and the way Cleveland lost, made it hard to feel any good about how the year went.

Winning a championship in Cleveland wouldn't change the past, but it certainly would change the way people talk about Harden's legacy. The East is open enough for the Cavaliers to have a real shot. But at age 37, time is ticking away.

Jeanie Buss has been Pelinka's most important ally. She hired him to run the Lakers, and their relationship gave him protection through all the ups and downs. But with a second ownership transition underway, Jeanie's power has dwindled.

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

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

This summer, the Lakers traded two firsts and two swaps for center Walker Kessler , plus added Cameron Carr, Quentin Grimes , Collin Sexton , and Sandro Mamukelashvili . Luka has a center to throw lobs to, shooters to find when help comes, and other guards who can create a shot without him. Austin Reaves is also back on a four-year, $185 million deal. The Lakers outscored opponents by 9.9 points per 100 possessions with him and Luka together last season, per DataBallr.

Who protects the rim if Kessler gets hurt? The Lakers have little reliable depth behind him, and too few wings who can contribute at both ends. Offense won't be a problem in Los Angeles , but defense certainly could be the cause of death come playoff time. Another early exit wouldn't necessarily mean Pelinka deserves to lose his job. But the new owners might decide they trust someone else to build around Luka.

Orbital fractures. Concussions. Knee tendinitis. A torn meniscus. A torn thumb ligament. Bell's palsy. Appendicitis. We're past "Embiid is injury prone." We're in "Embiid is cursed" territory when you factor in the Sixers traded up to take Markelle Fultz , traded away 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 the four-bouncer on the rim with Kawhi Leonard's Game 7 shot in 2019. Hell, the Sixers even lost a GM to his wife's burner accounts!

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

But if Embiid gets hurt anyway? Bob Myers and Mike Gansey will have to decide how many more seasons they're willing to stake on his health. They're new here. For fans who lived through the Process and everything that followed, moving on from Embiid would be much harder. But maybe for the front office, a trade gets the Sixers closer to a championship. I'd still hate to see Embiid spend all those years trying to win in Philly only to watch them finally do it without him.