Jalen Johnson was crowned a future superstar before he had played an entire season as the Hawks' No. 1 option. The hype train flew off the tracks, and before anyone knew it, the assumption was that he would immediately turn into the star who would carry the Hawks to greatness. Now, with the Hawks becoming the hottest team in the league since the All-Star break, Johnson is once again in the spotlight, being touted as one of the great future superstars of the NBA.
Is that fair?
Based on how he's played over the past month, maybe. Johnson has been everything the Hawks need him to be; a good scorer (22.6 points per game in March) but an elite facilitator (9.4 assists). He's kept the offense flowing, and the team's No. 2-ranked offense this month is by far their best multi-week stretch of the season.
And right now, it's completely fair for Hawks fans to be giddy about Johnson and the future of this team. But it's also important to remember that the sample size remains small. This is Johnson's first year (or half of a year) being the top option in Atlanta. In other words, it might be unfair to already burden him with the superstar, franchise savior label already. Once a player gets that label, they never shake it, and having a superstar label without superstar production leaves the player prone to criticism that's often unfair — it wasn't their fault that people prematurely tagged them as a superstar!
Jalen Johnson is going to face monumental pressure going forward
Tim MacMahon of The Hoop Collective podcast provided a pretty level-headed take about Johnson on a recent episode:
"The Jalen Johnson thing... You know, franchise player? I'm not sure he's quite a franchise player or a superstar, but he is absolutely a big time foundational piece who's a massive bargain on a $30 million per year contract... You know, he has blossomed — and really it's been health that's kept him from blossoming the last couple years — but he has absolutely blossomed this year into a fascinating blend of size, athleticism, and playmaking ability."
If everyone thought like that, I think expectations for Johnson would be pretty reasonable. But I don't believe everyone will think that way. Especially if the Hawks are only in the national discourse when they're scorching hot like they are now, and the general NBA fan only hears about Johnson when he's balling out, they're likely going to tag him with the superstar label, too.
And maybe Johnson does reach true superstar status as the years go by. If he really does play like this nightly, he probably will. But the leap from very good player to megastar is harder to make than a lot of folks realize, and for the time being, enjoying the "very good" version of Jalen Johnson should be enough.