Boston Celtics: 3 players facing the most pressure in 2018-19

1. Gordon Hayward

Last but not least, we have Hayward as the player facing the most pressure for the 2018-19 season. It’s not hard to see why a lot of people are anticipating that with his return, the Celtics will morph into an Eastern juggernaut.

A lineup that consists of Irving-Brown-Hayward-Tatum-Al Horford is a scary starting lineup. Of course, that’s if everyone stays healthy (and Aron Baynes could start at the 5, moving Horford to his preferred position and bringing either Tatum or Brown of the bench as sixth man).

In any case, Hayward was injured just a few minutes into the Celtics’ first regular season game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. That was after the fact that he chose to sign with Boston to a massive four-year, $128 million contract.

A lot of teams don’t have a lot of cap space to play with and the Celtics are one of those teams. If he can come back and play like he did for the Utah Jazz, then the contract was still a good one and he should perform at a high level. If not, it could ruin a lot of things this team has set out to accomplish.

The future is bright and the Celtics will continue to be one of the best teams in the league if they can keep their pieces. If his contract becomes an issue, it could be hard for the Celtics to try and trade him, especially if he can’t stay on the court.

Before getting injured, Hayward was an All-Star in Utah. During the 2016-17 season, he averaged 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He may not reach those kinds of numbers because of the injury and with more mouths to feed in Boston, but he is still one of the best two-way wings in the league.

Hayward, Rozier and Irving have a lot of pressure facing them for the 2018-19 season. The future of their contracts and the talent will determine whether or not they perform at a high level.