Free agency has come and gone but the following four guys have a lot of weight on their shoulders. Three of them switched teams and are expected to elevate their team to another level while the last is expected to be a key cog in a championship run. Here is a look at the four familiar faces under pressure to deliver this season.
LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
The term “championship or bust” has been thrown around this summer following the offseason signings of Aldridge and David West as the Spurs reloaded for at least one more NBA title run. With their current core in place, Tim Duncan took a pay cut and pushed back his retirement to make sure the team had enough money to sign Aldridge. Duncan, West, Kawhi Leonard, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Danny Green and everybody else in the Spurs organization will feel the pressure to perform this year but nobody more so than Aldridge, who is being tabbed as the final piece of the puzzle. The veteran big man was targeted to lead San Antonio in to a new generation as Duncan’s eventual successor and he will undoubtedly face the biggest burden to deliver a title as the player the Spurs built their entire offseason plan around this summer.
DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
Jordan took a ton of flack for backing down on his commitment to sign a long-term deal with the Mavericks and while his desire not to be the face of a franchise was a big reason why he opted to go back to Los Angeles, there will still be a ton of pressure on him to perform this season. The Clippers went all-in for the opportunity to compete for an NBA championship and with Jordan back, as well as the additions of Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson, there is no doubt the pieces are in place to make a title run.
What changes for him now is he goes from being the third-most important player on the team who was making relatively modest salary to a guy that is deemed as the difference between the Clippers being a championship contender and someone who would have been a fringe playoff team had they left. He stayed (for $16.9 million per season) and now he has to deliver.
Ty Lawson, Houston Rockets
Houston came within one series of reaching the NBA Finals without a starting point guard, so there will be plenty of pressure on Lawson to perform after he was acquired. He’s supposed to be one of the missing pieces that could help the Rockets fulfill their goal of becoming a championship team.
Lawson averaged 15.2 points, 9.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game for the Denver Nuggets last season but he dealt with his issues away from the floor including a second arrest under the suspicion of a DUI. Lawson is close friends with James Harden, Corey Brewer and Trevor Ariza and the hope is that the friendly faces and a new setting can help him get over the issues that plagued him away from the court last season. We saw how far the Rockets went with Harden and Howard…now we’ll see how far they can go with a Big Three instead of a Big Two.
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Rajon Rondo, Sacramento Kings
Rondo flamed out in Dallas last season and was eventually benched by the Mavericks once head coach Rick Carlisle made the decision that the team was better off without him on the floor. The free agent market wasn’t very strong for Rondo but Sacramento elected to take a chance on him with the hope that he could rediscover his game. The Kings relatively swung and missed out on free agency otherwise, so Rondo is burdened with being a difference-maker on this team. If he’s still one of the game’s top point guards, the Kings could have a Big Three of their own with Rondo, Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins. If Rondo fails to deliver, the Kings will still be the Kings and Rondo’s career trajectory will continue to decline.
