Luka Doncic Faces The Heaviest Ring Pressure Next?

We rank the NBA players facing the most pressure to win a championship next season, using a simple benchmark for when real legacy judgment should start. We also separate true superstar expectations from All-Star hype, then debate how Finals trips, MVP talk, injuries, and roster moves change the heat. 
• Why Year Seven or Year Eight becomes the pressure point for championship expectations 
• How NBA history shapes modern ring narratives and legacy arguments 
• Tré’s six most-pressured players list: Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards 
• Which established champions have little to no title pressure left 
• Luka versus Embiid for the No. 1 pressure spot and why public perception matters 
• Why Tatum still feels pressure even with a ring and no Finals MVP 
• Why Mitchell and Booker rank lower and what “Top 10” really means 
• Why Anthony Edwards enters the critique window and what a title would do to his legacy 
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Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Big Question

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're gonna talk about which NBA players have the most pressure to win an NBA title. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Comment on anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you heard this before, that's because you've been listening with me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate your support.

Defining Pressure Beyond Team Talent

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Now, before we talk about the players, right, I just need to clarify a few things. I said it, most pressure to win an NBA title. And it's not just because you have a good team, it's more so your status amongst the NBA players, right? And if we look at the history of the NBA players, NBA athletes, I think it's fair to say around year seven, that's that's a fair marker to start criticizing these players. You know, if you win a championship or you're successful before the year seven mark, okay, that's cool. We're comparing it just all-time greats. That's what we're talking about. Some of these players have all-time great talent. And sometimes just the situation doesn't allow for it, okay? So again, you got players coming in around 18, 19 years of age. So seven years isn't even getting them into their prime years per se. That's scary to think about. But it just shows you how much grace we should give these players while judging them. So again, about the seven, maybe even eight-year marker is when I think we should give title pressure, real pressure, real judgment. Again, you can critique for sure. And if when we're talking about comparisons amongst NBA greats or maybe even players in general, sure, you can bring up, you can reference their younger years for sure. But the real time to critique these players is around that seven, eight year mark.

The Six Stars Under The Microscope

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Now, starting this upcoming season, I have these six players as the most pressure. And I'm just gonna list them and then I'm gonna talk about my reasons why. Okay? So off top, I got Luca as the most pressured player starting next season. After him, it would be Joel Embiid, then Jason Tatum, then Donovan Mitchell, then Devin Booker, then Anthony Edwards. And I'm not gonna lie to you, if y'all want to rotate or shuffle some of these names around, I'm I can I can be okay with that too. I I really truly could. But let's let's talk about why I have those six names here right now.

NBA History And The Year Seven Marker

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Now, let's look at the past. Because there is a trend, and the reason why I said let's focus on that seven to eight year mark, okay? So Jerry West, he wins his first title year 12. All-time great player, right? We we we we we call that an anomaly because he ran up against the Celtics. Like that was just unfair, right? Kevin Garnett, he won his in year 10. So did West Unselled, by the way. Great, solid players for sure. Hell of a careers. Big O, year 10 as well.

unknown 3:04

Mr.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Triple Double before Russell Westbrook himself. I guess ain't Nicola Joker. He won it year 10. We still view him pretty highly. Kevin Durant, year nine. He got some knocks against him, but you know, he's Kevin Durant, you know who he is. Hakeem, the Dream Elijah one, year nine. MJ, year seven, Shaq, year seven, LeBron, year seven. Wilt, year seven. Pete the trend, Steph Curry, year six, Kobe, year four, Dwayne Wade, year three, Tim Duncan, year two, Bird, year two, Kareem, year two, Magic, year one, and Bill, year one. If you noticed as as we got a little closer in the years, uh smaller in the year number, like ones, twos, threes, foes, you heard the names and you understood the context, right? Like Bill was on that Celtics team that won a gang of championship. Magic. Went to the Lakers with Kareem and had a really good career. Kareem went with Big O. Larry Bird, again, the Celtics. Timmy, the Spurs, when they had David in them. D Wade, when you get Shaq fresh off a trade from the Lakers, and he was still in that not prime years but dominant era of his. Kobe, again, we just talked about Shaq. Like, there are reasons why some players win earlier than expected. But if you heard, we had MJ, we had Shaq, we had LeBron, we had Will all in year seven. Hell, even Steph won year six. That's close. That's close. Hakeem, year nine, and part of that was because Jordan won. And then you had the Pistons and the Lakers. Ladies and gentlemen, it takes a it takes a minute to get over that hump. So I need y'all to understand that even in the past, there's a trend. Most we had four sevens. Meaning four players won their first championship year seven of their career. Now you had some in the tens, but those players aren't quite top tens. We talk about MJ, we talk about Shaq, we talk about LeBron, we talk about Will. Year seven. Because they also won multiple championships. Other players, they won one. If they won two, hey, maybe they're not viewed as highly Kevin Durant. So again, the pressure on players is gotta start year seven. Maybe even year eight. I'll let you slide if they came in around 18, 19. You know what I'm saying? Because year seven, that could be a little early. We could talk about 25. That person could be that athlete could be 25 years of age. And I'd like to see them more at 26, 27 to be fairly critical. But I'll criticize the 25-year-old too now. Don't get it twisted. Because seven years is a lot of time to play in the NBA.

Who Has Pressure And Who Doesn’t

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So let's let's talk about the star caliber list that we currently have in today's game, right? And what we're gonna do is mention the name, how many titles they have, their age, and what year it is for them. Because some certain players they don't really have pressure in today's game. If we're talking about legacy careers, if you're chasing the goat, all right, maybe you got a little pressure. Like, for example, number one off top, because he's literally the first person I was gonna list. Braun, he got four titles. Age 41, and he's entering his 24th season. So there's not really much pressure for Braun, right? Kevin Durant, two titles, age 37, year 19, he's entering. It would be cool if he can win another championship outside of the Warriors era, right? But again, it is what it is. He's still a two-time champion, two-time finals MVP. You can't take that away from him. Steph Curry, four titles, age 38, entering his 18th season. That's really crazy when you think about it. Like, yeah, this is actually kind of baffling when you think about that. Kawhi, two titles, age 34 and his and entering his 15th season. No real pressure. There's a narrative for him to win. I can't say there's pressure for Kawhi to win. Again, he's already won. Two finals MVPs. What are we talking about? Anthony Davis, one title, age 33, entering his 15th season. You can make the argument that Anthony Davis has a little pressure because he wasn't finals MVP when he first won it, right? If you have a gripe like I do about the 2020 bubble chip, you could say there's pressure for him too. But he still technically has a title, ladies and gentlemen. Like, like I, again, I have a gripe with the title season, with the year in general. But end of day, it's it's still technically a title. So, I mean, whatever. Giannis, he has a title, age 31, entering his 14th season. Jokic, he has a title, age 31, entering his 12th season. Devin Booker, you don't have a title, age 29, entering his 12th season, but he did at least go to the finals. But just pay attention. Jalen Brown, won title, age 29, year 11. Like, there are so many players that have star talent that are stars in this game or can be viewed as stars that have already won a title. But now we're starting to hit where some players haven't won a title. And when you hear some of these names, you're gonna know, okay, I'm starting to pick up what you're putting down now, Trey. I hear you. So Joel Embiid, no title, age 32, year 11. Jason Tatum, one title, age 28, entering his 10th season. Donovan Mitchell, no titles, age 29, entering his 10th season. Luka Donczyk, no title, age 27, entering his ninth season. SGA, one title, age 27, entering his eighth season. Jalen Brunson, one title, age 28, entering his eighth season. Now everybody else that I'm about to list off has no title. And that's because they've either been year seven or below. We got Anthony Edwards, year seven, he's 24 years old, ladies and gentlemen, entering his seventh season. Cade Cunningham, 24, entering his sixth season. Tyrese Halliburton, age 24, entering his sixth season. Scotty Barnes, age 24, entering his sixth season. Paolo Bancaro, age 23, entering his fifth season. Wimby, age 22, entering his fourth season. No titles, like I said. Notice how you can't fairly critique them if we're talking about careers, because they got a long way to go. That's what we're estimating. But there were some players that I did name. That some people tried to say they're stars. And I can't quite give them that star caliber nod yet. Now, like I told you all, I got six names, right? And if y'all peeped, a lot of them are title as stars. Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Luca Doncic. I said Anthony Edwards, even though he's thought he just hit that year seven, so I did include him in the list, right? I didn't say Cade or Halley or Scotty or Paolo or Wimby. I didn't mention them. These are the guys who I mentioned. Luca

Luka And Embiid Legacy Stakes

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Donczyk. Now, I mentioned Luca first, right? You can mention Joel Embiid first, but I put Luca first because he's an MVP caliber player. Okay. But also, he asked for Austin Reeves, which puts pressure on you because you're saying that's your guy. So you feel like you have your guy. Cool. And also, you're on the Lakers. There's going to be some spotlight on you in the purple and gold. I'm telling you that right now. So again, Luca number one. We know what talent he is offensively. And if he wins, people are going to start trying to say he's the greatest player of all time. Like I promise you that narrative is going to drop because it already started to happen with SGA. And Luca statistically has been ridiculous. But we've already seen players have a pretty get put on a pretty high pedestal and stall to start to fall because they have not won a championship. Now he's what what we can bank on is he's at least been to the finals. That's the difference between Luca and Joel Embiid. Joel Embiid has never been to the finals. Has he ever even been to a conference finals, bro? I like like he as dominant as Joel Embiid has been, he has not had that success. Also, the injury history has been a problem. So, yes, Joel Embiid, ironically enough, is in fact an MVP. Luka Donczyk has never been an MVP. But people are not looking at Joel Embiid as an MVP caliber player. They still look at Luca as an MVP caliber player. So that's why I honestly think if you want to switch Embiid and put him number one, I do hear you. I just think because Embiid is not viewed as an MVP caliber player anymore, that drops his pressure just a little bit. But you still got to win, champ, because people, some people may have you in the MVP caliber, top 10 caliber. I understand you have injuries, but injuries are part of the game. And not to mention you just got Jalen Brown in a trade. So we're gonna have some pressure on you, champ, for sure. If you can't get it done now, it will be a sad career if Joel Embiid is not able to get the championship. Don't get me wrong. We've seen great players not win a championship for sure, like Charles Barkley. But Charles at least went to the finals one time. Like Jason Tatum, I have below Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic. Keep in mind, again, Jason Tatum is an MVP caliber player. So we do have pressure on him. But what really put him up there, because he has a championship, he technically doesn't need to win one. But this Jalen Brown trade does put a little pressure on Jason Tatum. Because Jalen Brown just took your Celtics to the two seed in the East, number four in the NBA last season without Jason Tatum. So we've seen what the Celtics can at least do. And you will technically have a better roster than what Jalen Brown had last season. So if you can't be competitive in the East, and I might even say NBA, that's gonna be a bad look on JT. So there is pressure for Jason Tatum to now win. Because if you do, you cement yourself as one of the star players of this era. If not, there's gonna be an there's always gonna be a conversation around, well, was Tatum better than Brown? Because I personally think JB's better than JT. But as a talent, who has more natural talent, Jason Tatum does. So again, there is pressure on JT just a little bit more now because of that JB trade. And he also didn't win finals MVP, Jason Tatum, meaning. So there's pressure on JT. Now, I got Donovan Mitchell as well, right?

Tatum Questions Mitchell And Booker Slots

SPEAKER_00 14:15

But I'm gonna be honest with you. Luca, M, Tatum, I think all of them fairly should be considered top 10. I don't think Donovan Mitchell's top 10, ladies and gentlemen. He's turning 30 this season as a small guard. I don't, I personally don't believe in that. I really truly don't. We just saw him hit his first conference finals and he got swept, and I personally believe stars get you one game. That's my personal philosophy. And I did I just say he got swept? Swept means no games. I didn't say gentleman swept, I said swept. So personally, I have Donovan Mitchell on this list because he's never gone to the finals. He's about to turn 30 years old. He just hit his first conference finals. And keep in mind, we got players who have already been to the finals, the conference finals, and they are younger than him. So you don't think that they're gonna continue to try to get to the finals in the conference finals and get in his way? And we still got Luca and JT and MB that are potentially in Donovan Mitchell's way as well, still. We got the Cade Cunningham, we got the Paolo Bencaros, like Jalen Brunson and the Knicks are still gonna be there. Like, Donovan is not a top 10 player. Don't get me wrong, I actually do like Donovan. I actually do like Donovan Mitchell. I really truly do. He's a solid player for sure. Just not that caliber player to get you over the hump. So that's why I don't have pressure on Donovan Mitchell. And now you might be saying, well, I mean, Devin Booker is not top 10 either. Heard you. Believe it. Matter of fact, hell, D Book might even be 30. As I think about it, he could be. Hold on, let me take that real quick, bro. Because Devin kind of getting up there to an age now. Yeah, he's 29, his dagger's self. So he's gonna be turning 30. But you know what Devin Booker did? He did get to the finals. He did. He got to the finals. And that's why I have him below Donovan Mitchell. Now, also I gotta ask, is Donovan, is Devin Booker a top 10 NBA player? I say no. But I think top 15, top 20, you can have that discussion. But the other three, Luca, MB, Tatum, they're worst case scenario, arguably top 10. Like you can talk about Joel and B dropping because of injury history and playoff performances. Heard you. Get that. But I don't think Donovan Mitchell or Devin Booker on average would be viewed as top 10 players. So that's why they're a little lower on this most pressured list. And again, Devin is behind Donovan because Devin's actually gone to the finals. So there is a method to the madness, ladies and gentlemen. Again, if you want to rotate some players, I hear you. I genuinely do. But I like my list so far. The only one I might even really change is MB over Luca. And that's because Mbi to me is still the MVB caliber play, still the dominant force. So again, that's the only one that I might be willing to personally change, but I'm not going to lose sleep if you say you want to alter some of these. Now, if you put Donovan or Booker ahead of those, I may lose a I may lose a couple minutes of sleep. I'm not going to lie to you. But overall, I think your list should look like this. And

Why Anthony Edwards Makes The List

SPEAKER_00 17:23

I know you're wondering, well, why do I have Ant up here? He just hit year seven. Yeah, I guess he just hit year seven. So we got to start looking at him now in a critiquing manner. Yeah, he's been fun and entertaining to watch, but now you got LaMelo Ball. Like you still got Rudy Gobel who's been playing some good basketball. Jaden McDaniels has been hooping. You know what I'm saying? Like you got a decent team, and y'all have been getting to the Western Conference Finals pretty consistently, at least at minimum, getting to the second round. And seeing the Wolves do that, that's pretty spectacular. But now if you get to the finals and you win, imagine what that's going to do for Anthony Edwards' legacy. When we're talking about players in the NBA currently, they're going to start talking about Ant as the best player now. Because that's what they did for SGA. That's what they did for Jokic. Ant's been dominating statistically. Impact-wise, I think you can make an argument that he has more impact than Nicola Jokic, than SGA. And I said, make an argument. If you don't agree with that, that's fine. I understand that too. I'm saying you can make an argument. Hell, Ant just beat the Dag on Nuggets last year. And to be clear, his Wolves actually won the closeout game without Anthony Edwards. But he did a lot of damage before he got injured, too. So that's the reason why you gotta give him, you know what I'm saying, some credit. But this is his first year of being really critiqued now. And we still got two years before his prime starts. So we got time for Buddy. He's got time to mess up before we can say, all right, what are we doing, Ant? And I'm being fair, because remember, I said this is year nine for Luka Doncic. Year nine? That's crazy. Time really does be flying. Whoa. That's insane. But Luca's also in his prime, ladies and gentlemen. So that's what we're factoring in. Where are you in your career? What are your expectations? Because that drives what pressure we have on you. Because again, we're talking about legacies going forward. All right? That's the reason why Jordan is talked about so highly, because his legacy was pretty intact when he played, after he played. So some of these players, you got to think about your legacy. What's your legacy gonna look like? Again, Joel Embiid, his legacy's probably gonna be injury prone. If he wins a championship, cool. You can then say, see, I told y'all, you got to trust the process, but you gotta win in order for you to say that. Jason Tatum, your legacy is gonna be, well, you probably shouldn't have let go of JB. And then it's gonna be, well, damn, should JT really have been the second option, not the first? That's not a bad legacy because you're still you're still called a champion. They will still say, well, he led his team in all statistical categories, or at least most, if you talk about efficiency, because that was not one of them. But they at least will be able to say something to that magnitude. But again, he he loves and admired Kobe, right? I think winning a championship without your running mate, that's what something that Kobe did. So when we're talking about legacies, again, I think that will matter to Jason Tatum, hence why I think he might end up winning a championship at some point in top. It's definitely going to be focused, he's definitely going to be focusing on it. But that's why I say there's pressure on him. But Luca, Luca don't have a championship, he don't have an MVP. Like, let's say that holds true for the rest of his career. What would his legacy be? Like, I am actually curious what his legacy would be. Like, we talk about Charles Barkley not winning an NBA championship, right? That's cool. He was an all-star MVP, a league MVP, and he went to the finals. Now, to be fair, Luca went to the finals. So that's cool. That's cool. And again, if you want to put him below Joel Embiid, because Joel Embiid has not been to the finals, I understand that. I'm just saying, ladies and gentlemen, because of how we've been viewing Luca, there's an argument we made that Luca has had more hype around his career than Joel Embiid has, more expectations around his career than Joel Embiid has. And that's pretty spectacular because Joel Embiid is a really dominant force. And people have been saying that for quite a while now. So again, I have Luca as my number one, but the only person I'd put ahead of him is Joel Embiid for pressure wise. Now, once next season hits, then I'll probably throw Giannis onto this onto this trade as well, or onto this list as well, too. But we'll, that's another discussion for another year, not even another day, another year.

Your Picks And Closing Call

SPEAKER_00 21:50

But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm curious. Who do you all have as having the most pressure to win an NBA title between the stars? And again, my definition of star is someone who's top 10, or at least in the discussion to have it. Like personally, if you're not top 10 for me, I don't call you a star. I call you an all-star. But top 10, fringe, top 10, I'll have those discussions. Like, notice I missed, I mentioned Scotty Barnes, Paolo Benquero, Tyrese Halliburton. These are players who some people I've heard at least say, oh, they're top 10. Fine, let's give you fringe top 10. I give you like top 25. Top 25. So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, who do you think has the most pressure going into next starting next season? I'm curious your thoughts. Did I miss somebody? Did I get the listing wrong? Let me know. But like I said, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey, I'm the host of Kid the Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.