Mikal Bridges, Jalen Duren and the most disappointing players so far in the NBA Playoffs

The first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs is getting juicy.

The New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Houston Rockets are surprisingly on the ropes. The Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers have each already dropped a game as well.

Most of those teams have underachieving players to thank for that.

While some players are shining bright under the postseason lights — who knew CJ McCollum was the second coming of Steph Curry? — others have wilted. If they can't back on track soon, their teams might be booking a trip to Cancun in the next few days.

Through the first week of the playoffs, the following seven players stand out as the most disappointing based on expectations and their postseason production relative to their regular-season output.

Mikal Bridges, New York Knicks

Based on raw production, Mikal Bridges isn't having the worst postseason of any NBA player. Factor in the Knicks' opportunity cost after trading five first-round picks for Bridges, though, and there might not be a more disappointing player.

After relatively nondescript performances in Games 1 and 2 of the Knicks' first-round series against the Atlanta Hawks, Bridges went completely MIA in Game 3. He finished with zero points on 0-of-3 shooting, two assists, one rebound, zero steals and zero blocks in 21 minutes. He also four turnovers and committed two personal fouls.

In what wound up being a one-point loss, the Knicks were plus-24 in 14 minutes with Miles McBride in Bridges' place alongside their other four starters, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. The Knicks got outscored by 26 in Bridges' 21 minutes.

Plenty of Knicks fans were already sour on Bridges, especially with Giannis Antetokounmpo's future now up in the air again. If he continues to no-show against the Hawks, many of them might pitch in to buy him a one-way ticket to Milwaukee.

Cameron Johnson, Denver Nuggets

When the Nuggets traded Michael Porter Jr. and a fully unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets this past offseason for Cameron Johnson, he was supposed to be the missing piece to their championship puzzle. Instead, he's just been a worse version of MPJ.

Over his final three seasons in Denver, Porter averaged 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 49.2 percent overall and 40.1 percent from deep. This season, Johnson averaged 12.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 threes while shooting 48.0 percent overall and a career-best 43.0 percent from deep. (The joys of catching dimes from Nikola Jokić.)

That's carried over to the playoffs. He had 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting in Game 1 and 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting (including 1-of-6 from deep) in Game 2 before crashing out with only six points on 2-of-6 shooting in 24 minutes in Game 3.

With Aaron Gordon sidelined, the Nuggets were desperate for another source of consistent offense aside from Jokić and Jamal Murray. MPJ's ability to scale up into a No. 1 role at times—as he proved this past season in Brooklyn—is what separates him from Johnson, even if Johnson is the more accurate 3-point shooter.

If Gordon can't return for Game 4, the Nuggets need far more from Johnson to have a chance at evening the series at two games apiece.

Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons

Jalen Duren had a breakout season this year that resulted in his first All-Star nod. He averaged a career-high 19.5 points per game along with 10.5 rebounds while shooting 65.0 percent from the floor.

You'd never guess that based on how he's fared in his first two games against the Orlando Magic.

In the Pistons' shocking Game 1 loss, Duren finished with only eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and seven rebounds in 33 minutes. In Game 2, he had 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal in 32 minutes.

Duren was a plus-21 in Game 2 and was a big part of the Pistons' game-breaking 30-3 run in the third quarter that put the Magic away. Still, his production has been relatively muted relative to his regular-season output.

Duren had at least 16 points in all four of the Pistons' meetings with the Magic during the regular season, and he had three double-doubles in those four games, too. Cade Cunningham has been donning the Superman cape for the Pistons thus far in this series, but Detroit will need more out of Duren moving forward to avoid becoming only the seventh No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 8 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks

Nickeil Alexander-Walker is likely to be named the NBA's Most Improved Player on Friday night thanks to an out-of-nowhere scoring explosion this season. After averaging fewer than 10 points per game in each of the past three years, NAW put up a career-high 20.8 points per game with the Hawks during the regular season.

However, he's been far less effective in the playoffs against the Knicks.

Alexander-Walker is still averaging 13.3 points per game, but he's doing so on a horrific 31.7 percent shooting. He's gone 8-of-20 from deep thus far (40.0 percent) but is only 5-of-21 on two-point attempts (23.8 percent).

Between Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, the Knicks have the defensive personnel to cause trouble for star wings and guards. First-time All-Star Jalen Johnson has also been nowhere near as effective in this series as he was during the regular season.

The Hawks figure to continue using CJ McCollum to pick on Jalen Brunson defensively, at least until the Knicks come up with an effective counter for that strategy. If they start sending more help at McCollum in Game 4, it'll be on NAW to make them pay for htat.

Brandon Ingram, Toronto Raptors

Brandon Ingram earned his second career All-Star nod this year during his first full season with the Toronto Raptors. He averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.8 threes per game during the regular season while shooting 47.7 percent overall and 38.2 percent from 3-point range.

He hasn't been nearly as effective against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

Ingram had 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting, four assists and two rebounds in the Raptors' Game 1 loss, but he followed that up with a seven-point stinkbomb in Game 2. Ingram shot 3-of-15 from the field after complaining about his lack of shot attempts in Game 1.

Ironically, Ingram also took nine shots in Game 3. The Raptors won by 22 points. So much for that theory.

Dean Wade has been in Ingram's jersey all series, making it difficult for him to get going offensively. Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett have been the Raptors' offensive engines thus far.

Perhaps Ingram will grow to embrace being more of a decoy than he was during the regular season due to what matchups dictate in this series. But for now, he's been a relative disappointment.

Derrick White, Boston Celtics

Lost in Jaylen Brown's All-NBA campaign and the gap-year Celtics' surprising success this season was Derrick White's middling efficiency. He shot a career-worst 39.4 percent from the field and only 32.7 percent from 3-point range, both of which were massive dips from what he did during his first three full seasons in Boston (45.4 percent overall, 38.7 percent from deep).

Those offensive struggles have carried over in the Celtics' first two games against the Sixers.

In the Celtics' blowout Game 1 victory, White finished with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting (including 2-of-7 from deep), six assists and three rebounds. In their Game 2 loss, he had only eight points on 3-of-12 shooting (2-of-10 from distance), three assists, two rebounds, two blocks and three turnovers.

White is still making an impact defensively despite his offensive struggles, but he's been bricking a stunning number of wide-open 3s. The Sixers might feel emboldened to continue devoting more defensive attention to Brown and Jayson Tatum until White can make them pay for leaving him open.

Jakob Poeltl, Toronto Raptors

Jakob Poeltl had a largely forgettable season, as a back injury hampered him for much of the year. Although he's healthy now, he's struggled to make an impact against Cleveland's double-big lineup with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Through the first three games of the Raptors' series against the Cavs, Poeltl has 14 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and one steal ... total. He's shot 6-of-10 across the three games and is averaging only 16 minutes per game.

Rookie forward Collin Murray-Boyles has unlocked a devastating small-ball look for Toronto, while backup center Sandro Mamukelashvili was dominant on the glass in Games 1 and 2 before also taking a backseat to Murray-Boyes in Game 3. Poeltl still figures to continue drawing starts, but head coach Darko Rajakovic has had a quick hook on him.

The Raptors signed Poeltl to a three-year, $84.5 million extension this past July that doesn't even start until the 2027-28 season. If he can't make more of an impact on this series moving forward, they might be having buyer's remorse on that deal before it even begins.

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