The NBA playoffs is the ultimate test for the top teams that have dominated the standings, as well as for up-and-coming contenders wanting momentum for next season. But the postseason will have implications for top players and coaches that stretch into the offseason and beyond.
It will shape how teams approach their next moves during the summer and into next season. For example, the Mavericks’ decision to trade Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February had its roots in Dallas’ run to the NBA Finals in 2024.
That’s why it’s worth keeping an eye on key figures over the course of the playoffs. For players like Doncic, there will be something to prove with a deep postseason run. For certain veterans and rising stars, there are big paydays on the line. And for a handful of coaches, this could be an audition for keeping their roles.
As we turn the page to the play-in tournament and ahead of the playoffs this weekend, let’s look at 25 of the most important figures and what impact this postseason could have on their future.
Jump to a section:
Stars with something to prove
Top youngsters aiming for the next step
Pivotal veterans who could define a deep run
Money on the line for these key players
Coaches at the center of attention
Stars with something to prove
Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers
What to watch for: It’s not just that the Mavericks chose to trade Doncic, an unprecedented move with a superstar of his caliber in his prime. The Mavericks then justified the decision by arguing Anthony Davis would give them a better chance to win championships — months after Doncic led them to the Finals. We’ve had revenge games before, but Doncic is essentially embarking on a revenge postseason.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
What to watch for: Although the Pacers reached the 2024 Eastern Conference finals, Haliburton wasn’t the driving force during that postseason, averaging 18.7 PPG and 8.2 APG — down from his regular-season play following a midseason hamstring injury. This season, Haliburton is trending way up ahead of the postseason — 20.6 PPG and 11.0 APG since the All-Star break with 44% 3-point shooting.
Kawhi Leonard, LA Clippers
What to watch for: Like Haliburton, Leonard seems to be getting healthy just in time for the playoffs. He has averaged 25.0 PPG since the All-Star break on 51/44/81 shooting splits. Beyond the numbers, Leonard’s bounce is back. Still, we’ve seen this movie end badly before.
Injuries have prevented Leonard from completing a single playoff series since the Clippers’ seven-game classic with Dallas in the first round back in 2021.
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
What to watch for: Mitchell’s career average of 28.1 PPG in the playoffs ranks seventh all-time, per Basketball-Reference.com. The six players ahead of him, including Doncic, have all reached the Finals. Mitchell has yet to make it past the second round.
With a stronger team around him and the East’s top seed, this is Mitchell’s chance to demonstrate he can keep it up deep into the postseason.
Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks
What to watch for: Adding Towns on the eve of training camp has supercharged the Knicks’ offense, which ranked among the top-five in the NBA. But New York’s inability to beat the league’s best teams (including an 0-10 record against Boston, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City) can be traced to defensive slippage.
After helping the Minnesota Timberwolves to last year’s conference finals as a power forward, Towns must show he can anchor a capable playoff defense at center.
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
What to watch for: The Hawks managed to improve this season despite trading Bogdan Bogdanovic and Dejounte Murray, their other top two scorers in 2023-24. but Young wasn’t really the reason. His 24.2 PPG were the lowest since his rookie season, and his 41% shooting was a career low.
If Atlanta is to get out of the play-in and be competitive in the first round, it will take the Young we saw lead the Hawks to the 2021 conference finals.
Rising stars aiming for the next step
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
What to watch for: Cunningham’s breakthrough campaign, which has helped the Pistons return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019, has been one of the season’s best storylines. A first-time All-Star and likely All-NBA pick after averaging 26.0 PPG and 9.1 APG, Cunningham will now get his first taste of the postseason against a battle-tested Knicks team.
Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers
What to watch for: The Cavaliers’ decision not to break up their Garland-Mitchell backcourt was rewarded with an All-Star season by Garland and the No. 1 seed in the East. The playoffs present a tougher challenge for the 6-foot-1 Garland, particularly if Cleveland faces a Boston team in the Eastern Conference finals that offers few places to hide on defense. Garland must make defenses pay at the other end in a way he couldn’t during an injury-marred 2023-24, when he averaged just 15.7 PPG in the playoffs.
Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder
What to watch for: Missing nearly three months with an iliac wing fracture slowed Holmgren’s ascent in his second NBA season, but if the Thunder are to reach the NBA Finals, he’ll surely be a key part of their run. We saw signs during the regular season’s final month of Holmgren picking up his offense.
Starting with 23 points in a win at Boston last month, he topped 18 points six times in the last 12 games he played. When defenses take away MVP-front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren will be an important outlet.
Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets
What to watch for: The playoffs could be a coming-out party for Thompson, who has averaged 16.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 4.9 APG and a combined 3.3 steals and blocks per game as a starter. How Rockets coach Ime Udoka deploys the uber-athletic Thompson alongside stopper Dillon Brooks will be worth watching on a team that jumped from the lottery to the No. 2 seed in the West.
Franz Wagner, Orlando Magic
What to watch for: While teammate Paolo Banchero handled his playoff debut well, Wagner was up-and-down in last year’s seven-game loss to Cleveland in the first round. He averaged 25.3 PPG in the Magic’s three wins but just 14.0 PPG in four losses, including 1-of-15 shooting in the deciding Game 7. Wagner has taken a step forward this season, averaging career highs across the board, and maintaining that would help Orlando compete.
Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder
What to watch for: The Thunder needed more from Williams as their second-leading scorer in last season’s second-round loss to the Mavericks. He averaged 17.0 PPG but shot just 44% on 2s against Dallas’ strong interior defense. Williams has responded with his first All-Star campaign, increasing his share of the Oklahoma City offense and averaging career highs across the board. That bodes well for a stronger playoff run.
Pivotal veterans who could define a deep run
Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
What to watch for: Brown has little to prove as a playoff performer after winning MVP of both the Eastern Conference finals and the NBA Finals as the Celtics won the 2024 championship.
The question is strictly one of health. Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla on Sunday confirmed an ESPN report that Jaylen Brown received pain management injections during the week to help his troublesome right knee. Brown particularly seemed affected in March, when his 18.0 scoring average was his lowest in a month with more than three games since March 2019.
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
What to watch for: Moving Green to center on a nearly full-time basis since the midseason trade for Jimmy Butler III has helped unlock the Warriors at both ends. Although Green is no longer the elite rim protector he was in his prime, the switchable lineups with Green at the 5-spot have compensated by forcing turnovers at an elite rate.
Can Golden State keep that up in the playoffs? The Warriors will need to in order to contend.
Kyle Kuzma, Milwaukee Bucks
What to watch for: The Bucks’ deadline trade pinned their hopes on getting a better version of Kuzma than he’d been with the lowly Washington Wizards. Although Kuzma’s 3-point shooting bounced back, that wasn’t really the case, and he supplied little extra scoring with Damian Lillard sidelined by deep vein thrombosis. Milwaukee may need more from Kuzma to win a playoff series for the first time since 2022.
Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
What to watch for: During the Nuggets’ runs to the 2020 conference finals and 2023 title, Murray was one of the great playoff overachievers in NBA history. He performed at an All-NBA level despite never having been even an All-Star in the regular season. That changed last year, when Murray struggled in Denver’s seven-game loss in the conference semis to Minnesota. When Murray played well this season, the Nuggets surged. When he was ineffective or sidelined (returning Friday from an ankle sprain), they sputtered.
Money on the line for these key players
Josh Giddey, Chicago Bulls
What to watch for: After acquiring Giddey from Oklahoma City last summer, the Bulls were unable to reach an extension, meaning he’ll be a restricted free agent this July. Giddey has surely made himself money with a second-half surge, nearly averaging a triple-double since the All-Star break (21.2 PPG, 10.7 RPG and 9.3 APG).
Giddey can prove the legitimacy of that stretch by leading Chicago out of the play-in and back into the playoffs while translating his improved shooting into more postseason impact.
However, Giddey missed Sunday’s regular-season finale while getting treatment on his shooting wrist, though Bulls coach Billy Donovan expressed optimism about the guard’s availability for the play-in tournament.
James Harden, LA Clippers
What to watch for: The two-year contract Harden signed with the Clippers last July included a 2025-26 player option, and Harden can increase his leverage with a strong postseason. His 22.8 PPG were already Harden’s most since 2020-21, while he made his first All-Star appearance since 2022 thanks in large part to the Clippers outperforming low expectations.
Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors
What to watch for: This hasn’t been the contract year Kuminga wanted heading into restricted free agency. He lost his starting job three games into the season and has seen his scoring average drop from a strong 2023-24 campaign. Adding Butler has made Kuminga a trickier fit for Warriors coach Steve Kerr, and he wasn’t part of the rotation in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Clippers.
That could suggest Kuminga won’t be part of Golden State’s rotation to the playoffs and will have to find opportunities to prove his value.
Julius Randle, Minnesota Timberwolves
What to watch for: Randle’s decision on a $29.5 million player option will be one of this summer’s most important. In a smaller role than his leading one with the Knicks, Randle has seen his per-game stats slide. That will be easier to forget if Randle can help Minnesota overcome a topsy-turvy regular season with another playoff run. One worrisome bit of history: Randle shot 34% in two playoff runs in New York, albeit battling injury in 2023.
Coaches at the center of attention
David Adelman, Denver Nuggets
What to watch for: Adelman was thrust into the unexpected role of head coach by Denver’s unprecedented dismissal of Michael Malone during the final week of the regular season. Adelman started well with a 3-0 record as the Nuggets clinched home-court advantage in the first round, but the playoffs are a different beast altogether. No head coach in NBA history has ever been so inexperienced going into the playoffs, and it comes with a team considered a championship contender two years after winning the title.
Tuomas Iisalo, Memphis Grizzlies
What to watch for: If not for Adelman, Iisalo would have stood out with his inexperience, having coached the season’s final nine games after replacing Taylor Jenkins. At the same time, Adelman has won a title as an assistant coach. The play-in will be Iisalo’s first taste of the NBA postseason ever after his successful career coaching in Europe.
Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
What to watch for: The championship the Celtics won last season validated Mazzulla’s at-times unorthodox philosophy, but Boston doubled down this year. Boston launched nearly 4,000 3-pointers, the most in NBA history. As I argued in a story on the rising volume of 3s — and concerns about it — the Celtics’ playoff results will be attributed to their style, for better or for worse.
JJ Redick, Los Angeles Lakers
What to watch for: Compared to Adelman and Iisalo, Redick is a veteran coach, having overseen the Lakers for a full regular season. Leading a team with Doncic and LeBron James is still a drastic change for the first-time head coach, who was podcasting with James and broadcasting playoff games a year ago.
Redick handled a massive midseason makeover with aplomb, building a strong defensive culture and finding a reliable rotation. Now he faces the challenge of managing a playoff run and the adjustments that will come with it.
Ime Udoka, Houston Rockets
What to watch for: Mazzulla’s predecessor has turned the Rockets into a top-five defense in just two seasons after taking over a team that lost 60 games. Another deep playoff run for Udoka, who guided the Celtics to the 2023 Finals, would cement him as one of the NBA’s top coaches. But Udoka has more playoff experience than most of his stars. Three Houston starters, including Thompson, will be making their playoff debuts.
Source: espn.com