5 players under the most pressure entering the 2023-24 NBA season

The 2023-24 NBA season israpidly approaching, yet there are still a lot of uncertaintiesaround the league. Typically, there's a clear group of potentialchampions in the NBA. This year is a little different, as a numberof teams improved and put themselves in a position tocontend.

Recently, we broke down the teams facing themost pressure entering this season. Today, we'll break down theplayers who are under immense pressure to lift the Larry O'Brientrophy at the end of the season. Here are my top-five players underthe most pressure to win a championship this year.

5. Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns

Devin Booker is widely regardedas one of the NBA's best shooting guards, but he hasn’t seen muchplayoff success. The Suns have had a lot of regular-season successin recent years, and they reached the NBA Finals in 2021. However,they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in embarrassing fashion and theyhaven't had much postseason success since. Booker is now surroundedby the best roster he’s had in his entire career and has every toolnecessary to reach a championship. He still has time, so he won’tface too much backlash if he doesn’t win this year, but the windowfor that Suns team to win is rapidly closing.

4. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, Los AngelesClippers

Paul George is now on his thirdplayoff team, and second team with an elite duo. His pairing withKawhi Leonard should have led to much more success by this point,but both players have struggled to stay on the court. They havebeen a solid team, but nothing more. Leonard hasn’t been to the NBAFinals since he was in Toronto, and George hasn’t ever been to theNBA Finals. The clock is ticking for these two, and the backlashthey’ll receive if the pairing amounts to nothing will be veryunpleasant.

3. Chris Paul, Golden State Warriors

The narrative around ChrisPaul’s lack of a championship has gotten so bad that he’s beengiven the nickname “CP0," as in zero rings. While this play on hisactual nickname is harsh, it’s painfully accurate. Paul has been onelite team after elite team, and he's yet to hoist the LarryO'Brien trophy. He’s been in the league for 18 years and hasn’t wonanything significant. For a player who has always been viewed asone of the best at his position, this is just unacceptable. Hewon’t play as prominent of a role this year with the Golden StateWarriors, but either way, a championship would silence his doubtersand do wonders for his resume.

2. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers

Joel Embiid isn’t even underpressure to win a championship; he's under pressure to get out ofthe second round. Embiid has been to the playoffs every seasonaside from his rookie year (in which he played 31 games). Granted,Embiid has been through a lot of drama throughout his tenure withPhiladelphia and his teammates haven’t always performed great inthe playoffs. Also, nobody can forget Kawhi Leonard’s iconicbuzzer-beater back when he was on the Raptors. Even still, he hashad opportunities and he’s let his team down. If he doesn’t atleast make it past the second round, he will face a ton ofcriticism.

1. James Harden, Philadelphia 76ers

James Harden has had moresuccess than most players without a championship, but he’s quicklytarnishing all of the positive goodwill he has built up. Had Hardennot displayed such immaturity while requesting a trade from the76ers, Embiid likely would have been first on this list. With thatsaid, Harden showed the NBA world yet again what he’s like when hedoesn’t get his way. For a player who has never even been to theNBA Finals, he sure demands a lot when he gets bored of staying inone place for too long. All of this is assuming he even plays thisseason, but he will need to finally back up his talk to keep thecritics off his back.