2018-19 NBA season: 5 stars with a point to prove on injury comebacks

The 2017-18 season saw a whole host of amazing players go down to injury at various points in the season. Some, such as Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker, were already on the injured list at the start of the year.

Players such as Gordon Hayward and Mike Conley joined them on the treatment table not long after that, and the season-ending injuries kept coming late into the season as the likes of Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas had to miss the end of last season due to an assortment of injuries.

All of these aforementioned players will be under some amount of pressure or the other when the 2018-19 NBA season tips off on the 16th of October. This list deals with proven stars of the league who've already led teams to playoff spots or better, and the ranking is done according to the expectations that their individual seasons are under:

#5 Mike Conley

San Antonio Spurs v Memphis Grizzlies - Game Six

Much has been made of Mike Conley's 5-year, $153 million contract which he signed in the summer of 2016, but other than injury, his play suggests nothing other than the fact that he's worth every penny of it. Conley is the best NBA player today to never crack an All-NBA or the All-Star roster through 11 seasons in the league, but you'd know better than to count him out.

His performance in the 2016-17 season silenced doubters and critics as he averaged 20.5 points, 6.3 assists and 1.3 steals for the Grizzlies, who finished a credible 7th in the playoff standings that year.

The Memphis franchise does not own its 2019 first-round pick, and so far, all the indications point to them trying to salvage the 2018-19 season with a win-now mentality. Ruled out for all but 12 games of the 2017-18 season due to injury, Conley's comeback will be a huge boost to them as they regain the best perimeter defender and offensive player for the '18-19 season.

I, for one, will be rooting for Conley even though he realistically has few chances, if any, of making it to an All-Star team or leading the Grizzlies to one final playoff bow alongside Marc Gasol.

#4 Kyrie Irving

This section of fans is obviously in the minority now that Irving has led the Celtics on a run to the #2 seed in the east, but there was a significant chunk of fans who questioned whether Uncle Drew could take over a team that won basketball games on the regular and put it over the top.

Infection within his right knee meant that Irving missed out on a fairytale playoff run for the Celtics in 2018 when they came within one game of making their first Finals appearance in 8 seasons. The same naysayers have now found the voice to chime in with takes that Kyrie wasn't vital to the Celtics' success as they very nearly made the Finals without him playing.

In my mind, it won't take long for them to once again be proved woefully wrong, but Irving does have the burden of being the best player on the best roster in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics are already looked upon as favourites to make the Finals from their Conference with the departure of LeBron James to the Los Angeles Lakers, and anything less than that would mean that these questions will continue to be associated with Irving for at least a year more.

Irving will no doubt be another dominant scorer once he takes the floor for Celtics at tip-off on the 16th October 2018. But the questions about him have now shifted to the postseason, and we will have to wait 7 more months to find the answer to that question.

#3 Gordon Hayward

While Irving will be under pressure mainly during the playoffs as he is clearly the offensive spearhead for the up-and-coming Celtics, their other major acquisition from the summer of 2017 is yet to finish a full game for the Shamrock Greens.

Gordon Hayward will be looked upon as the Celtics' best two-way player the instant his return becomes official and he takes the floor for their season-opener against the Sixers, and not without reason. His job is less clear-cut than Irving's however, as youngsters Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum may take up some of his own earmarked minutes so that coach Brad Stevens can develop them further.

Hayward was a 40% 3-point shooter with the Utah Jazz, however, and in a team with an All-Star point guard in Kyrie, there will be enough open 3-pointers to go around the team. It is up to Hayward to throw the gauntlet down to the Celtics' youngsters and prove that he's the best offensive option they have outside of Kyrie.

#2 Isaiah Thomas

After proclaiming that NBA executives would need to 'back up their Brinks trucks' in order to sign him as a free agent this year last season, IT4 has had to chew in his pride and ego and accept a prove-it veteran's minimum deal with the Denver Nuggets as their backup point guard for the 2018-19 season.

This situation is a far cry from the 2017-18 season, when he had heroic performances studded all over an MVP-caliber season, culminating with a 53-point masterclass against the Washington Wizards following the death of his beloved sister.

For as much of a tough dawg that Thomas is, far too often he lets his mouth do the talking instead of his performances - which were none too great through the past NBA season. A lot of the disrespect he's earned in the last year is because he magnified the defensive problems for the Cavs in the month that he did play for them.

He was much better for the Lakers and helped them by coming through clutch in a couple of close games, but was still not efficient enough to merit a starting berth in their future plans. Therefore, the onus is now squarely on Isaiah to prove that a 29-year-old 5'8" point guard has a place in the NBA as a featured scorer on a sizeable deal.

#1 DeMarcus Cousins

It was a move verging on pure genius for DeMarcus Cousins to sign with the Warriors for the taxpayers' mid-level exception of $5.3 million as he recovers from a debilitating Achilles injury which he suffered before the All-Star break this year. The Pelicans, who held his Bird rights, were hesitant to sign him on a max deal before it became clear that he was worth it and had made a comeback from the aforementioned injury.

It is safe to say that at least offensively, Cousins has the whole package like no other big man in the game today. An amazing playmaker who can get buckets from a variety of positions on the floor, Cousins weaves exquisite handles, court vision and the body of a football player and can wear opponents down from the block, the 3-point line and as a pure roll man.

He even showed his ability to play engaged defense alongside Anthony Davis during his time at New Orleans in the season or so that he played for the Pelicans. The Warriors are under absolutely no pressure to rush him back into action, but he might find shots tougher to come by in an offense that literally has 4 All-Stars next to him.

Cousins will have to play at the same level that he did before his injury this year to have any chance of landing the big-money contract that he's bet himself on. He couldn't have chosen a more appropriate spot to do that than Golden State in the 2018-19 season, so there's all the more pressure on him to deliver now.