ESPN analyst Tim Legler has claimed that Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum is the player under the most pressure to perform next season after a heartbreaking finals defeat last month.
In a recent edition of NBA Today, Tim Legler and Brian Windhorst alongside host Malika Andrews discussed who they believe is the player under the most pressure to win next season.
In unsurprising fashion, Brian Windhorst chose disgruntled Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving as his pick for the player under the most pressure for 2022-23, whilst Tim Legler marked Tatum as his choice.
“I think Jayson Tatum is under some pressure… This is a [Boston Celtics] team expecting now to win it all and Jayson Tatum did not play well when they got to that final stage [last season]. He’s gonna have to answer that.”
— Tim Leglerpic.twitter.com/fFxobJ7eYX
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) July 22, 2022
Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to one of the greatest in-season turnarounds in history, with an 18-21 record in January and finishing the regular season as the second seed with a 51-31 record.
The 24-year-old struggled with a right shoulder and wrist injury throughout the playoffs, but still went on to make history and scored the most points whilst recording the mosts assists in the entire league.
Tatum and the Celtics narrowly lost out on an 18th NBA championship in the recent finals loss to Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors in six games, after defeating the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals in which Tatum picked up the first ever Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP award.
Despite a disappointing finals display against the Warriors where the forward averaged 21.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 7 assists on 46% from outside the arc, that didn’t take away from a generational season from the Duke University alumnus.
46 seconds of @jaytatum0 torching the Bucks for 46 points 🔥 pic.twitter.com/olJEtfbFJP
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 14, 2022
It’s most certainly up for debate as to who the player under the most pressure next season is, however we can expect yet another record-breaking season from Tatum after making First Team All-NBA and his third All-Star appearance in 2021-22.
