Feels like the answer is never someone who already has one so it’s between guys like Tatum/Luka/Embiid/Booker/SGA
Out of that group I’d probably go with Tatum because of how stacked the Celtics are overall and how many near misses they’ve had(could also see Embiid but I don’t think anyone truly sees the Sixers roster as championship caliber or actually expects them to win this year)
This is easy, Dame and Harden. Both guys threw a fit to get traded to a contender for a title shot, both guys got what they wanted. Now they have to deliver along with the teams they are on (ie Gianni and Kawhi and friends all have the same pressure.
Followed by Tatum and Booker. Celtics pretty much have a new look by adding KP and Jrue Holiday, pressure is on them with how stacked their starting lineup is and having a not so bad bench. Suns gave up their entire future to bring In KD and Beal, it’s not all on Booker but we all know how good Booker can be and he’s proven he can keep up with KD, just needs to keep it going.
I guess Embiid and Luka come after but not super pressured since both those teams are figuring stuff out with roster changes even though htmmthey are both doing well. The “process” nonsense pushed by the Philly FO kind of accelerated that pressure on Embiid + getting MVP means he needs to go to the next level aka a title. Luka still has a bit more time, we just re-signed Kyrie to match his contract length, this season was expected to be not a title contention but a playoff run to keep developing our younger guys (ie, Lively and Green), while making changes to improve our defense. We seem to be ahead of schedule considering how good both Lively and Luka are playing so I can see the pressure in the next season and onwards on him to get something done.
Eventually Luka is gonna need to win. People like to put him among jokic and giannis as the top 3 players in the nba, yet both those guys steamrolled their way to a title. I feel like luka is closer to the next tier of players than he is to those two unless he can dominate his way to a title
Indeed, he does eventually need to win. He’s only 24 and still has a good number of years on his contract. The fact that we’re winning games now is great which means with some upgrades he will have a legit chance. I just don’t see us as a true contender this year (but definitely a possible deep playoff run), our defense is still too Swiss cheese to compete actively with teams like Denver and the Celtics.
Not sold on denver being the runaway west champs this year. Their depth looks worse than last year. I think every western series is gonna be a toss up this year