It wasn’t star power that won the Eastern Conference four months ago. The Indiana Pacers were an ensemble.

When scoring dried up, T.J. McConnell would pop off for 10 points in four minutes. When they dropped double-digits with only a few minutes to go, Aaron Nesmith would throw flames. When they needed a stop, Andrew Nembhard would slither around a screen to annoy any nitwit who dared to dribble in his direction.

The role players swung the Pacers’ season — and thus, even with Tyrese Haliburton earning All-NBA accolades, the role players determined the conference.

There is always a group of non-stars with a chance to change the league. Let’s run through the five most pivotal role players for this season.

But first, some honorable mentions …

The Denver Nuggets spun Michael Porter Jr. into Cam Johnson, one of the most interesting sidekicks this season, but Johnson is too consistent to make this list. The Atlanta Hawks traded for Kristaps Porziņģis, a former All-Star who is too accomplished to fit into this category. The Orlando Magic are hoping for more from former No. 6 pick Anthony Black in their trek to offensive competence, but Black hasn’t shown enough yet. The Charlotte Hornets drafted Ryan Kalkbrenner, who will sneakily be a key center, considering he’s on a squad devoid of high-level big men. But the possibility of a rookie second-rounder helping a hapless franchise to the bottom of the Play-In Tournament is too low stakes.

So let’s run through the possible McConnells or Nesmiths of this season: not necessarily the best role players for this upcoming season, but the five most-pivotal ones, the guys who could help write the narrative for 2025-26 if all goes well or erase a team from the storybook if they fall short.

Kevin Porter Jr., Guard, Milwaukee Bucks

There was a time when the public hurled tomatoes at the Bucks for even suggesting Giannis Antetokounmpo could be a point guard. Earlier in the two-time MVP’s career, at-the-time head coach Jason Kidd dubbed a lanky, 6-foot-11 teenager the team’s floor general. And as the detractors predicted, the results were not pretty — at least, not in the moment.

Yet, one of the most inspiring developmental stories in NBA history doesn’t happen without Antetokounmpo’s stint at the point. He learned from the experience, viewing the court from an initiator’s vantage point, then settled into the role that would turn him into a world-renowned wrecking ball.

Somehow, a decade later, it feels like he’s back in a similar place. This time, it’s not for experimental reasons.

The Bucks are jonesing for someone, anyone, to run a pick-and-roll. Often, it will be Antetokounmpo, who will assume more ball-handling opportunities now than he has in years. Such is life with Damian Lillard gone and with a slew of unproven guards remaining.

But Antetokounmpo can’t be the only player, or even the lead one, running the offense. He’s at his best as a screener, cutter and attacker in transition. He requires someone else to get him open, too.

Enter Porter, a scoring guard who becomes the most obvious man for the job.

Lillard ran 38 pick-and-rolls a game last season, fourth-most in the NBA, according to Second Spectrum. Many of those will turn over to Porter, as well as fellow guard Ryan Rollins. The Bucks want to shoot more 3-pointers this season than they did a year ago, when they led the league in accuracy but were far from voluminous. That means busting into the paint and kicking out from there.

Antetokounmpo can do that, but it will be a job for Porter and Rollins, too.

Porter has been a lead creator before, but that was on cellar-dwelling Houston Rockets squads that became a breeding ground for poor habits. With Antetokounmpo electing to stick around in Milwaukee, this is a different type of environment.

The Bucks went all-in on this season’s group when they waived and stretched Lillard’s expensive contract, clearing the way to sign Myles Turner. New signee Cole Anthony will receive a chance to initiate, but he’s bounced in and out of rotations the past couple of seasons. Rollins rarely shoots when dribbling around a screen. Defenses can lean into passing lanes against him, which makes life easier for them.

Porter sprinkles in a hint of Y.O.L.O.

If the offense bursts, it’ll be mostly because of Antetokounmpo. But the Bucks will be too one-dimensional if they can’t add in guard play — some scoring here, some playmaking there. And Porter represents the best bet at finding some.

De’Andre Hunter, Wing, Cleveland Cavaliers

Hunter’s improvement last season wasn’t just that he shot better. It was how defenses reacted to his ascendence.

He attacked the rim with force and drew more fouls than ever. He nailed a career-high 41 percent of his looks beyond the arc, where opponents hugged him with full arms. Hunter could always shoot, but help defenders would stray off him if a driver infiltrated the lane. Yet, that didn’t happen as often last season.

According to Bball-Index’s stat that measures gravity (how much attention a primary defender pays to his man while away from the ball), Hunter blew away his previous career high in 2024-25. The former No. 4 pick began making shots at a higher rate than ever, and the rest of the league changed the way it guarded him.

How’s that for an endorsement of whether or not his leap was real?

And yet, the 27-year-old finds himself in the highest-pressure situation of his career this season.

The Cavaliers are the odds-on favorites to win the Eastern Conference, even after losing reserve firecracker Ty Jerome, who they replaced with veteran guard Lonzo Ball, a defensive menace and fabulous passer who won’t release as many off-balanced floaters in a lifetime as Jerome does in a nanosecond. It’s now on Hunter to provide oomph off the bench.

That doesn’t mean Cleveland will place the basketball in Hunter’s hands and tell him to go. That’s not his game. But it does mean the Cavs are leaning on a player who was inconsistent during his early career in Atlanta.

What if last season was a blip, not a sign of what’s to come?

The Cavaliers have searched for the perfect wing to slot inside their big four of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. At times, it’s been Isaac Okoro or Dean Wade or Caris LeVert. They didn’t work out. Hunter, even after he splashed nets last season, wasn’t the answer in Cleveland’s most important moments, either. He didn’t close games often.

Max Strus is the starter and has fared well as a shooter, screener and mover inside Cleveland’s scrambling attack. But Hunter is larger than Strus, can man more brute opponents and churned out one of the more versatile shooting seasons of 2024-25. He nailed 42 percent of his 3s from above the break, the second-best figure on the squad. The best? Ty Jerome’s 43 percent, which was second in the NBA.

The Cavs have a chance at their best season since LeBron James was in town. And if Hunter maintains his play from last season, he can help make it happen.

How will Deandre Ayton perform this season? Based on his career, it’s hard to predict. (Kelsey Grant/Getty Images)

Deandre Ayton, Center, Los Angeles Lakers

There is no louder hit-or-miss role player than Ayton, a former No. 1 pick who signed with the most glamorous franchise of them all.

He’s been an up-and-coming star; then the starting center for a team that made it to the finals; then a lackadaisical big man who refuses physicality as he wastes away on a losing squad. And all of this before his 28th birthday.

Maybe LeBron James, Luka Dončić and the tension of Los Angeles bring out the best in him. Or maybe he never shoots another free throw again.

Dončić needed a center, someone who could throttle to the basket and finish after arriving. He’s made athletes like Daniel Gafford look like savants. Next could be Ayton.

Ayton can be an outlet for Dončić or James when they attack the hoop. He can create out of the short roll, receiving the basketball around the free-throw line and passing or even pulling up from there. When he’s open, despite its gloomy reputation, an Ayton mid-range jumper is not death. He’s one of the league’s most accurate shooters from that area. He can keep those types of plays in his game.

But that can’t be all he does.

Such is the predicament with Ayton. The shots he creates — those cozy 16-footers or the fadeaways that follow through without any contact — might look pretty and might be the best for himself, but are they best for his team?

The Portland Trail Blazers, who straight-up released him this summer, didn’t think so.

Ayton is a 7-footer who averaged just .13 free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt last season. For context, only one other center trailed him in that statistic: 38-year-old Al Horford, who has trickled away from the paint with age. But at least Horford shoots 3s, his way of making up for the math. Ayton does not.

But Ayton has skill, a silky jumper, smooth footwork and a giant frame that can block off the paint on the other end. By his third year with the Phoenix Suns, he was a clever team defender on a squad that perennially finished inside the top 10 in points allowed per possession.

With the Lakers’ lives on the line last season, head coach J.J. Redick veered away from using any centers — not because he doesn’t believe in 7-footers but because he had lost faith in Jaxson Hayes, who previously started there. The Lakers had no other options.

They needed a body in the middle, a screen-setter for Dončić and James.

Ayton doesn’t have to reach the stardom that people once heaped upon him to justify the Lakers’ signing. A couple of buckets and a couple of rebounds a quarter with solid defense and a steady presence down low will solidify what was previously Los Angeles’ most glaring weak point.

For now, the results are unknown.

Terrence Shannon Jr., Guard, Minnesota Timberwolves

It’s all in the eyes.

The Timberwolves are encouraging Shannon to explode to the basket and to look every which way as he does it.

Minnesota is particularly high on the second-year guard’s driving ability. Shannon will receive a pass, position himself to shoot, then fly by a defender who is rushing to close out on him. The next step is making the decision: Continue toward the hoop or peer to the opposite corner. Shannon is adept at opening up teammates for 3-pointers on those plays. He will use his 6-foot-6 height and long arms to fling overhead assists above the defense, as if he’s a soccer player tossing an inbounds pass.

This is what the Wolves want now — nay, this is what they need.

The Wolves are preparing Shannon for a leap, or what they hope will be one. Shannon was an occasional member of the rotation as a rookie. Now, just as he turns his eyes to the basket or the corner, Minnesota focuses its eyes on him.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is gone, off to the Hawks in free agency. Shannon will assume his spot.

He is a different type of player than the man he’s replacing. Alexander-Walker is a pitter-patter, defensive-minded guard. Shannon will man larger perimeter players, but not necessarily the point of attack as often. And on the other end, the Wolves are encouraging him to barrel to the hoop.

“We saw that a ton last year in practice,” head coach Chris Finch said. “It’s what we really need him to do more of. … The third team that he was on early on, even in training camp, didn’t have a natural point guard. He was able to take over and make the plays.”

Shannon’s competence could swing Minnesota’s season.

The Timberwolves are fresh off two consecutive trips to the conference finals. Especially after the injury to Fred VanVleet in Houston, they have a chance to make it three in a row. Their first couple of men off the bench, former Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo, are spark plugs. But they need one more.

Former first-round pick Rob Dillingham, a small, 20-year-old point guard, won’t receive an opportunity before Shannon does. And if he stands out, Minnesota goes eight deep with a shot at winning multiple playoff series once again.

Reed Sheppard, Guard, Houston Rockets

There might not be a young player this side of Cooper Flagg facing more pressure than Sheppard.

The Rockets believed they had a championship-made roster. They traded for Kevin Durant, then added long-armed wing Dorian Finney-Smith and big man Clint Capela to a team already overrun with size and defense. The other day, they started a preseason game with Amen Thompson, Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Şengün and Steven Adams.

Four of those players are 6-foot-11, which makes the 6-foot-7 Thompson, the shrimp.

Of course, one notable member was missing from that crew.

With VanVleet, who tore his ACL this autumn, done for the season, the Rockets are experimenting. Before the injury, they had a group that could shoot, run, dunk on anyone, create turnovers aplenty, rebound, protect the rim and beat down any squad with sheer force. Now, they’re missing a playmaker.

Sheppard, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, is their best hope for one.

He rarely played as a rookie, but the job should be easier for him this season than it was in 2024-25 and not just because he’s a year older. For example, the greatest sign of the Rockets’ cramped floor spacing pre-Durant was the way they ran pick-and-rolls. VanVleet would begin plays far behind the 3-point arc. In fact, the average Rockets ball screen occurred nearly 27 feet away from the basket, giving them the farthest-out pick-and-rolls in the league last season, according to Second Spectrum.

This was not a coincidence.

The farther back VanVleet or any initiator was, the more he could negate the lack of shooting. On one part of the floor was Thompson, an expert at all things basketball but jump shooting. On another was Şengün, a savvy passer and scorer who’s at his best around the elbows.

But the arrival of Durant revamps the spacing.

Sheppard won’t have as scrunched a floor to run the offense. How he performs in those moments will dictate how the Rockets proceed.

Can Sheppard play well enough that Houston emerges as a contender with him as its point guard? Or does his seat at the end of the bench last season signal he’s not ready for such an important role?

If he’s not, the Rockets have the draft picks and young players to trade for any point guard, from a big name to a stopgap. Still, as long as Sheppard is their point guard, their title hopes could hinge on him as much as anyone else on the roster.

If he succeeds, Houston is one of the favorites. If he falls flat, it could fall from the NBA’s elite.