{"id":456174,"date":"2026-02-05T20:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/456174\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T20:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T20:36:09","slug":"four-nba-players-facing-the-most-pressure-to-deliver-after-trade-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/456174\/","title":{"rendered":"Four NBA Players Facing the Most Pressure to Deliver After Trade Deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s NBA trade deadline was an absolute whirlwind<\/a>. Numerous deals were struck in the lead-up to the final bell on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, from blockbusters like the Anthony Davis trade<\/a> to smaller yet still impactful deals like the Anfernee Simons-Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 swap<\/a>. The landscape of the league rarely shifts so dramatically in the middle of the season, yet here we are\u2014a second consecutive deadline that will lead to dramatic ramifications all over the NBA. <\/p>\n

All the big moves also means there\u2019s pressure to deliver for certain players. Some teams, like the Bulls, traded for players like Simons or Collin Sexton without the need for them to come in and perform at a high level immediately; the team\u2019s goals are more big-picture than winning the next game. That isn\u2019t the case across the board, though. Other players were acquired with the expectation they would be able to play well immediately. In some cases their new team needs them to do so. It isn\u2019t ideal to bank the season\u2019s hopes largely on a trade acquisition but sometimes it cannot be avoided. <\/p>\n

Here we\u2019ll examine the four players who are under the most pressure to deliver immediately in their new homes with the deadline dust settling. <\/p>\n

James Harden, Cavaliers<\/p>\n

No player traded at the deadline is under as much pressure as Harden. <\/p>\n

The Cavaliers likely traded for the superstar guard<\/a> with larger machinations in mind; his player option for next offseason is only partially guaranteed and they got off a long-term commitment to Darius Garland by landing Harden. But in the immediate it was a win-now trade. Cleveland was tabbed as a contender entering this season but has struggled and are fifth in the East. Given Garland\u2019s injury issues have kept him off the court for most of this season after the same thing happened in the playoffs last year, all signs were pointing to another early postseason exit for the Cavs. That\u2019s a disastrous outcome for a number of reasons, the biggest being the possibility it results in Donovan Mitchell wanting to play elsewhere. <\/p>\n

So the Cavs went out and got Harden. His iffy playoff record makes it an interesting move, to say the least, if the goal is a deep run. But as an on-court fit he does what Garland did, but better. Harden is still an offensive system unto himself and averages 25.4 points and 8.1 assists per game. He\u2019s very capable of giving Mitchell much-needed rest given how often the Cavs have relied on him without Garland this year. Should Harden seamlessly integrate into Cleveland\u2019s offense the team will definitely be better and offer a puncher\u2019s chance at coming out of an Eastern Conference without a prohibitive favorite. <\/p>\n

But if he doesn\u2019t… consequences will come, and not just for Harden. If the Cavaliers flame out again it will lead to massive changes and the destruction of the core as it is currently put together. Maybe there\u2019s a place for Harden in that new reality but the chances of him gettting the extension he reportedly desires is much lower than if he shows out. If he doesn\u2019t and Cleveland moves in a different direction, there are few teams that would offer the 36-year-old big money in free agency. <\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have put all their hopes onto Harden with this trade. How he performs will dictate the road the franchise will take next offseason. <\/p>\n

Jaren Jackson Jr., Jazz<\/p>\n

After years of tanking, the Jazz finally went all-in on a star to complement its current core<\/a>, acquiring Jackson for the high price of three first-round picks, Walter Clayton, Taylor Hendricks, Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang. Utah had to make a move eventually with all the assets the front office accumulated from the Mitchell and Rudy Gobert trades, but nobody thought the Jazz would go after Jackson. Reception of the move has been mixed. It\u2019s on JJJ to prove them wrong. <\/p>\n

How often the Jazz will rely on Jackson down the stretch of this season in particular is murky given Utah needs to land in the top eight of the draft lottery to keep its first-round pick this year. But the team will be asking a lot of him regardless. Jackson\u2019s fit next to fellow forward Lauri Markkanen isn\u2019t squeaky-clean and he\u2019ll be asked to adjust. The Jazz are also betting that Jackson\u2019s down year in Memphis is an aberration; he\u2019s averaging three fewer points per game this year and his defense hasn\u2019t been at the same DPOY-caliber it\u2019s been the last few years. <\/p>\n

More than anything, Jackson is going to feel the heat because Utah decided he\u2019s the guy who will help the Jazz pivot from a rebuild to contention. It won\u2019t be entirely on him. But if the new core fails to coalesce, the blame usually falls on the new guy. And in Jackson\u2019s case there will be plenty of discussion about the high cost Utah paid to bring him to town quickly if he doesn\u2019t perform. It\u2019s not a deep playoff run or bust like with Harden in Cleveland but high expectations await Jackson in his new home. <\/p>\n

Ayo Dosunmu, Timberwolves <\/p>\n

The Timberwolves didn\u2019t send out their best trade assets to land Dosunmu<\/a>. But given Minnesota\u2019s status as contenders with a desperate need for a competent point guard, there\u2019s quite a bit riding on his ability to seamlessly integrate alongside Anthony Edwards and the rest of the Wolves\u2019 core. <\/p>\n

Minnesota landed the 26-year-old Dosunmu (as well as Julian Phillips) in a trade with the Bulls that saw Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, and four second-round picks leave the Twin Cities. It\u2019s a tough pill to swallow for the Wolves to acknowledge Dillingham\u2019s status as a draft bust after trading multiple future first-round picks to select him in the 2024 draft lottery. But GM Tim Connelly has a well-earned reputation as a ruthless player on the trade market. He recognized Minnesota has a legit chance to contend this season and Dillingham wasn\u2019t getting the job done at point guard with Mike Conley declining in his late 30s. They\u2019re now both out (with a chance to return in the case of Conley) and Dosunmu is in. <\/p>\n

Unlike the two players named above the Timberwolves do not need Dosunmu to come in and be a star to consider the trade a success. He just needs to offer up solid minutes off the bench and play good defense while hitting his shots. This year he proved very capable of that in Chicago, averaging 15 points per game while shooting 45% from three along with rock-solid point of attack defense.<\/p>\n

It’s not a huge role\u2014but it\u2019s an important one. Keeping the ship afloat while de facto point guards Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo sit has proven to be a challenge for this year\u2019s Wolves team. It\u2019s enough of a weakness to sink them in a playoff series against a top-flight opponent. If Dosunmu\u2019s shot abandons him or he struggles in coach Chris Finch\u2019s defensive scheme, the Timberwolves have no other options to turn to. It\u2019s all on him. <\/p>\n

Luke Kennard, Lakers<\/p>\n

Like Dosunmu above, Kennard was acquired to address a very specific need<\/a>. In the Lakers\u2019 case, it was perimeter shooting. Los Angeles\u2019 role players have had a very tough time hitting the open shots created by LeBron James, Luka Don\u010di\u0107, and Austin Reaves this year; of the top seven players in the Lakers\u2019 rotation by minutes per game, only Rui Hachimura shoots above 36% from deep. So president Rob Pelinka shipped out Gabe Vincent and a second-rounder for the sharpshooting Kennard, who shot a whopping 49% on 3.2 three-point shots per game for the Hawks in the first half of the year. <\/p>\n

The Lakers are in a bit of a weird spot because they have three All-Star players but aren\u2019t going all-in on this season in order to position themselves to best build around Don\u010di\u0107. However, the lights are always bright in Los Angeles and especially in what could be James\u2019s final year wearing purple and gold. Kennard will be under a microscope the likes of which he hasn\u2019t experienced since the last time he was in L.A. coming off the bench for the Clippers. <\/p>\n

Really, though, he faces pressure because his new team is relying entirely upon him being the best shooter on the floor at any given moment. Opposing defenses feel comfortable leaving every other player in the rotation open to throw extra bodies at the Lakers\u2019 three stars. And even those three stars are not deadeye shooters; Reaves is the best at 36%. Nobody is going to leave Don\u010di\u0107 or James wide-open beyond the arc, of course, but Kennard is simply at a different level as a shooter. What\u2019s more, the Lakers\u2019 inability to add defense at the deadline means their offense must be elite to contend with the best of the best. <\/p>\n

Los Angeles didn\u2019t burn serious assets to land the guard so it\u2019s not the end of the world big-picutre if he doesn\u2019t work out. But as it pertains to the Lakers\u2019 ability to seriously contend this season Kennard\u2019s play will be a significant factor. <\/p>\n

More NBA on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s NBA trade deadline was an absolute whirlwind. Numerous deals were struck in the lead-up to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-456174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}