OKC Thunder: 3 former stars with most to prove in 2021 NBA Playoffs

Former OKC Thunder star No. 2) Chris Paul

The “blink and you’ll miss it” franchise player for the OKC Thunder from the 2020-21 campaign, Chris Paul is already a sure-fire Hall of Fame player who quite possibly is a top-5 player of all-time at his respective position.

That said, even with this, it does not mean that the point guard doesn’t come into this year’s postseason with some individual pressure.

For how good Paul has been throughout his 16-year NBA career — 11x All-Star, 9x All-NBA with career averages of 18.3 points, 9.4 assists, 2.2 steals on 47 percent shooting from the floor and 37 percent shooting from deep –, the man has only managed to make it out of the first round six times, and out of the second round just once.

Now while we can easily give him a pass for those overachieving New Orleans teams he was on early in his career and for last season’s first-round exit with the Cinderella Story OKC Thunder, the lacking success he found with the star-studded Los Angeles Clippers and with the Houston Rockets are recognized as stains on his postseason career.

Now, finding himself leading the charge alongside All-Star Devin Booker on the Phoenix Suns, Paul enters into his 13th postseason appearance on the second-best team in the Western Conference.

With such a standings comes a ton of pressure and, with the Point God leading the way, expectations are obviously going to be high.

The sad truth is if they manage to advance out of the first-round against the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers, it’ll simply be viewed as expected, and little praise will be thrown Phoenix’s way.

On the flip side, if they end up losing against the defending NBA Champions, the elimination would be viewed as yet another upset on CP3’s record, thus adding to the unfair stigma that he’s “not a true winner.”