Lakers Players Under Most Pressure Entering 2024-25 NBA Season

It's impossible to suit up for the Los Angeles Lakers and not feel a certain amount of pressure.

This is, after all, one of the NBA's most storied franchises, and it resides in one of the league's glamour markets. If that wasn't enough, the Lakers also roster an all-time great (if not the all-time great) who's approaching his 40th birthday, so they feel the presence of Father Time as much as anyone.

All of that said, there are a few members of the Purple and Gold who might feel even more heat than the others.

There probably shouldn't be a ton of pressure on LeBron James at this stage of his career considering all of the otherworldly things he's accomplished to this point.

Yet, that very same once-in-a-generation type of existence in this league ramps up the pressure every season. He's still building a legacy for the ages, after all, and anything he can still accomplish only adds to his legend.

He has embarked on four championship journeys so far, which #RINGZ counters will note is one fewer than the late, great Kobe Bryant and two shy of Michael Jordan, James' biggest rival in the everlasting GOAT debates. Expecting James to deliver a title run with this team is the steepest of asks, yet he is perpetually evaluated on the championship-or-bust scale.

Which is surely fine with him. He expects the best from himself and his teammates, and he's always chasing the crown. He's also running out of time to add to that collection, as the fact he appears ageless—he's improbably still playing at an All-NBA level—doesn't actually change the reality he'll soon celebrate his 40th birthday.

D'Angelo Russell has been the Lakers starting point guard for the past season-plus, yet it feels like he's playing on borrowed time.

Before they gave him a two-year pact last summer, they got him to waive his implied no-trade clause. And once he picked up the player option for the second season of his contract, they've been searching for ways to unload him.

That's a long-winded way of saying they're less than sold on the scoring guard, who's had some brutal showings during each of the past two postseasons. The fact the Lakers are looking for deals and seemingly haven't sniffed one out yet suggests the rest of the league is less than enamored with him, too.

He is a talented player, obviously, and there were stretches last season where he played some of the best basketball of his career. If he can summon that level again and sustain it for longer, he has a chance to engrain himself with this group and potentially be positioned for a big payday next summer. If not, there's a chance he gets salary-dumped by February and maybe even needs to ink a prove-it pact next offseason.

A knee injury limited Gabe Vincent to just 16 appearances (playoffs included) last season. That effectively gave him a free pass for his first go-round with the Lakers.

That same courtesy won't be extended this season, which will hopefully be spent free of the injury concerns that derailed the last one. The focus will now be on whether Vincent can hoop at a high level or not, and he has more to prove on that front than you might think.

He spent four seasons with the Miami Heat as a bargain-priced energizer who impacted the game with his hustle and dogged defense. The offensive end was largely a grind, though, as he managed just a 39.9/33.9/85.2 shooting slash and wasn't the most prolific playmaker (2.3 assists against 1.2 turnovers).

He was all-caps AWESOME during Miami's run to the 2023 NBA Finals, though, which convinced the Lakers to reward him with a three-year, $33 million contract shortly thereafter. If he can't approach that level again, it's possible that will be the first and last big payday of his career. He is 28 years old, so this should be the heart of his prime. If it turns out his peak isn't as high as hoped, the Lakers could regret that investment and look for a way out of it.