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<\/p>\nIt wasn\u2019t star power that won the Eastern Conference four months ago. The Indiana Pacers were an ensemble.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The role players swung the Pacers\u2019 season \u2014 and thus, even with Tyrese Haliburton earning All-NBA accolades, the role players determined the conference.<\/p>\n
There is always a group of non-stars with a chance to change the league. Let\u2019s run through the five most pivotal role players for this season.<\/p>\n
But first, some honorable mentions \u2026<\/p>\n
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 Porzi\u0146\u0123is, 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\u2019t shown enough yet. The Charlotte Hornets drafted Ryan Kalkbrenner, who will sneakily be a key center, considering he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Kevin Porter Jr., Guard, Milwaukee Bucks<\/p>\n
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\u2019s career, at-the-time head coach Jason Kidd dubbed a lanky, 6-foot-11 teenager the team\u2019s floor general. And as the detractors predicted, the results were not pretty \u2014 at least, not in the moment.<\/p>\n
Yet, one of the most inspiring developmental stories in NBA history doesn\u2019t happen without Antetokounmpo\u2019s stint at the point. He learned from the experience, viewing the court from an initiator\u2019s vantage point, then settled into the role that would turn him into a world-renowned wrecking ball.<\/p>\n
Somehow, a decade later, it feels like he\u2019s back in a similar place. This time, it\u2019s not for experimental reasons.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But Antetokounmpo can\u2019t be the only player, or even the lead one, running the offense. He\u2019s at his best as a screener, cutter and attacker in transition. He requires someone else to get him open, too.<\/p>\n
Enter Porter, a scoring guard who becomes the most obvious man for the job.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo can do that, but it will be a job for Porter and Rollins, too.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Bucks went all-in on this season\u2019s group when they waived and stretched Lillard\u2019s expensive contract, clearing the way to sign Myles Turner. New signee Cole Anthony will receive a chance to initiate, but he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Porter sprinkles in a hint of Y.O.L.O.<\/p>\n
If the offense bursts, it\u2019ll be mostly because of Antetokounmpo. But the Bucks will be too one-dimensional if they can\u2019t add in guard play \u2014 some scoring here, some playmaking there. And Porter represents the best bet at finding some.<\/p>\n
De\u2019Andre Hunter, Wing, Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Hunter\u2019s improvement last season wasn\u2019t just that he shot better. It was how defenses reacted to his ascendence.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t happen as often last season.<\/p>\n
According to Bball-Index\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
How\u2019s that for an endorsement of whether or not his leap was real?<\/p>\n
And yet, the 27-year-old finds himself in the highest-pressure situation of his career this season.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t release as many off-balanced floaters in a lifetime as Jerome does in a nanosecond. It\u2019s now on Hunter to provide oomph off the bench.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Cleveland will place the basketball in Hunter\u2019s hands and tell him to go. That\u2019s not his game. But it does mean the Cavs are leaning on a player who was inconsistent during his early career in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
What if last season was a blip, not a sign of what\u2019s to come?<\/p>\n
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\u2019s been Isaac Okoro or Dean Wade or Caris LeVert. They didn\u2019t work out. Hunter, even after he splashed nets last season, wasn\u2019t the answer in Cleveland\u2019s most important moments, either. He didn\u2019t close games often.<\/p>\n
Max Strus is the starter and has fared well as a shooter, screener and mover inside Cleveland\u2019s 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\u2019s 43 percent, which was second in the NBA.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n How will Deandre Ayton perform this season? Based on his career, it\u2019s hard to predict. (Kelsey Grant\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Deandre Ayton, Center, Los Angeles Lakers<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Maybe LeBron James, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and the tension of Los Angeles bring out the best in him. Or maybe he never shoots another free throw again.<\/p>\n
Don\u010di\u0107 needed a center, someone who could throttle to the basket and finish after arriving. He\u2019s made athletes like Daniel Gafford look like savants. Next could be Ayton.<\/p>\n
Ayton can be an outlet for Don\u010di\u0107 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\u2019s open, despite its gloomy reputation, an Ayton mid-range jumper is not death. He\u2019s one of the league\u2019s most accurate shooters from that area. He can keep those types of plays in his game.<\/p>\n
But that can\u2019t be all he does.<\/p>\n
Such is the predicament with Ayton. The shots he creates \u2014 those cozy 16-footers or the fadeaways that follow through without any contact \u2014 might look pretty and might be the best for himself, but are they best for his team?<\/p>\n
The Portland Trail Blazers, who straight-up released him this summer, didn\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
With the Lakers\u2019 lives on the line last season, head coach J.J. Redick veered away from using any centers \u2014 not because he doesn\u2019t believe in 7-footers but because he had lost faith in Jaxson Hayes, who previously started there. The Lakers had no other options.<\/p>\n
They needed a body in the middle, a screen-setter for Don\u010di\u0107 and James.<\/p>\n
Ayton doesn\u2019t have to reach the stardom that people once heaped upon him to justify the Lakers\u2019 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\u2019 most glaring weak point.<\/p>\n
For now, the results are unknown.<\/p>\n
Terrence Shannon Jr., Guard, Minnesota Timberwolves<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all in the eyes.<\/p>\n
The Timberwolves are encouraging Shannon to explode to the basket and to look every which way as he does it.<\/p>\n
Minnesota is particularly high on the second-year guard\u2019s 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\u2019s a soccer player tossing an inbounds pass.<\/p>\n
This is what the Wolves want now \u2014 nay, this is what they need.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Nickeil Alexander-Walker is gone, off to the Hawks in free agency. Shannon will assume his spot.<\/p>\n
He is a different type of player than the man he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw that a ton last year in practice,\u201d head coach Chris Finch said. \u201cIt\u2019s what we really need him to do more of. \u2026 The third team that he was on early on, even in training camp, didn\u2019t have a natural point guard. He was able to take over and make the plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shannon\u2019s competence could swing Minnesota\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Former first-round pick Rob Dillingham, a small, 20-year-old point guard, won\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Reed Sheppard, Guard, Houston Rockets<\/p>\n
There might not be a young player this side of Cooper Flagg facing more pressure than Sheppard.<\/p>\n
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 \u015eeng\u00fcn and Steven Adams.<\/p>\n
Four of those players are 6-foot-11, which makes the 6-foot-7 Thompson, the shrimp.<\/p>\n
Of course, one notable member was missing from that crew.<\/p>\n
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\u2019re missing a playmaker.<\/p>\n
Sheppard, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 draft, is their best hope for one.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a year older. For example, the greatest sign of the Rockets\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
This was not a coincidence.<\/p>\n
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 \u015eeng\u00fcn, a savvy passer and scorer who\u2019s at his best around the elbows.<\/p>\n
But the arrival of Durant revamps the spacing.<\/p>\n
Sheppard won\u2019t have as scrunched a floor to run the offense. How he performs in those moments will dictate how the Rockets proceed.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s not ready for such an important role?<\/p>\n
If he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
If he succeeds, Houston is one of the favorites. If he falls flat, it could fall from the NBA\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It wasn\u2019t star power that won the Eastern Conference four months ago. The Indiana Pacers were an ensemble.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[7218,64,63,5670,17603,1662,7220,7232,4620,5665,590,12985,85],"class_list":["post-217482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-houston-rockets","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-orlando-magic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}