Atlanta Hawks: 6 Players Facing the Most Pressure in 2018-19

3. Taurean Prince

Now we get into the pressure cooker. After an excellent end to his 2017-18 campaign, Taurean Prince will go into the 2018-19 season as one of the best players on the Atlanta Hawks roster. Even though not much is expected of the team, that means that the pressure is on for TP to continue his upward trajectory and improve areas of his game that might need a little more seasoning.

The Prince That Was Promised made it clear that his late lottery selection was a good choice by the Atlanta Hawks previous administration – headed by Mike Budenholzer – but even still, Prince was not selected in the draft by current Hawks GM Travis Schlenk, who might have valued another player higher than Prince.

As such, TP must be ready to dominate games much like he did last season by scoring in bunches, but he must also be prepared to take a step back so that younger players like Kevin Huerter and Trae Young can reach their lofty potential.

It will be a year of growth for Prince no matter what, but he must be able to tread the party line regarding giving the rookies touches while also improving his game to include ever more wrinkles to an already well-rounded and interesting skill set.

Prince will turn 25 this season as well, meaning he is almost “too old” to be considered a major part of the young core – but that’s a discussion for another time. Either way, TP has plenty of pressure on him in 2018-19, though not as much as the next player on our list.