NBA Playoffs 2019: 5 players facing the most pressure

TORONTO, CANADA - MARCH 22: Russell Westbrook #0 of the Oklahoma City Thunder looks on against the Toronto Raptors on March 22, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Zach Beeker/NBAE via Getty Images) /

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CHARLOTTE, NC – MARCH 23: Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics stands for the National Anthem before the game against the Charlotte Hornets on March 23, 2019 at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images) /

1. Kyrie Irving

When Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cavaliers in the summer of 2017, many questioned whether it was a wise decision. He was on a team that had made three consecutive trips to the Finals and had won a title just a year before. Now, less than two years later, it certainly looks like he made the right move. While the Celtics are fighting for home-court advantage, the Cavaliers are fighting for better lottery odds. However, even as the Celtics made an unlikely trip to the Conference Finals last year, they did it without Irving and only intermittently has Boston looked like the team fans expected them to be entering it. They have failed to mesh on the court, young players have not developed as hoped, and there’s been a lot of rumored conflict amongst the players.

Next. Zach Collins will shape the Trail Blazers' reality. dark

While the other players on this list have more to prove on the court, Kyrie, due to his championship experience and his transcendent performance in the final three games of the 2016 Finals has already proven himself in a way they haven’t. For Kyrie, what he has to prove is his ability to be a leader, that his request to leave Cleveland and the shadow of LeBron James was more than youthful pride, something other than an act of hubris. Can Kyrie replicate LeBron’s success without replicating the worst of LeBron’s leadership strategies, the ones that rubbed him the wrong way when they were teammates? This is the question that will haunt and follow him, if not necessarily the Celtics as a whole, this postseason.

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