It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. That’s what several NBA stars — headlined by Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton and Bam Adebayo — will be telling themselves after a sub-standard first third of the season. The new calendar year is only a couple weeks away and there are big names who will be embracing the “New Year, New Me” mantra to turn around their respective fortunes.
Yes, it may be too late to turn things around for All-Star consideration — where how you start is always paramount — but there are end-of-season awards for those who are still eligible to play 65 games. Most importantly, for some, there’s a postseason to steadily ramp up for.
Here are five players whose teams most need to bounce back over the course of the remainder of the season.
Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Expectations were set when Joel Embiid stated that this season’s focus is on the playoffs. His days of playing both ends of a back-to-back are firmly in the rearview and it’s possible he’s never eligible for end-of-season awards again due to the 65-game minimum rule.
December looked like his time to shine but luck has not been on his side. An inadvertent forearm to the face from Bennedict Mathurin on Dec. 13 resulted in a sinus fracture. Embiid will miss some time but should be back in the new year. If there is something to draw from the 176 minutes he’s played, he’s looked far more like himself over the last 84 minutes he’s played than the first 92.
Embiid’s averaging a pedestrian 20.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and a block while shooting just 41.1 percent from the field, including a woeful 16 percent from three. He did, however, collect 30-point double-doubles in consecutive games before going down with injury after just 17 minutes against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
As injury prone as Embiid has been, he’s probably missed six or seven games more than the Sixers would have accounted for at this stage of the season. His injury history means every season is precious, so missing out on the playoffs entirely or finishing with a low seed will be the last thing both he and his team want.
Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana Pacers
It’s hard to look at the East standings and not wonder, “What happened to the Pacers?”
Looking like the modern era “7 Seconds Or Less” Phoenix Suns last season en route to an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, Indiana has stumbled out of the gate with a 12-15 record. Some of that is injuries. Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard and Ben Sheppard have all missed relatively significant time, but the biggest reason is that Tyrese Haliburton does not look like the All-NBA, borderline MVP candidate he did a season ago.
Through 27 games, Haliburton is averaging 18.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 8.7 assists while shooting 53.8 percent on twos (lowest as a Pacer) and 35.0 percent on threes (career-low). His assist figures are also the lowest since joining Indiana in 2021-22, averaging a league-leading 12.2 per game a season ago and 11.2 the year before that.
If there’s a trend to watch out for with the two-time All-Star, Haliburton has shot 61.9 percent on twos in December. That would actually be a career-high and much more in line with the 59.5 percent he shot last season. When Haliburton is able to push the pace and wreak havoc both inside and outside the arc, that’s how space opens up for his teammates and the assist numbers should spike as a result as well.
Bam Adebayo, Miami Heat
In one of the sneakily quiet stories of the year, Bam Adebayo’s offensive game has failed to take off the way many anticipated. There was hype coming in that he worked on his 3-point shot, and he’s attempting a career-high three triples per game while making 33.3 percent of them. What’s really concerning is his finishing around the basket, which has dipped to a career-worst 61 percent. Making matters worse, he’s converting just 36 percent of his shots between four and 14 feet, an area of the floor he’s shot at least 45 percent from in each of the previous four seasons, including a career-best 50 percent last year.
Is it the Jimmy Butler distraction? Was it an awkward starting lineup at the beginning of the year that featured Terry Rozier, who’s recently moved to the bench? Did he spend too much time working on his 3-point shot? Whatever the reason, the Heat need Adebayo to regain his touch around the basket. He’s not the most prolific of scorers to begin with, and dropping from a solid offensive option to a mediocre one on a Heat team that can struggle for offense is a tough blow.
Especially if Butler finds a new home, the pressure on Adebayo to provide an inside threat will only increase as the likes of Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr. look to function around him.
Mikal Bridges, New York Knicks
The Knicks sacrificed plenty for Mikal Bridges. They envisioned a wing defense comprising both him and OG Anunoby to be huge boons in a potential matchup against the Boston Celtics with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Throw in Bridges’ offensive efficiency and the assets surrendered could potentially validate the benefit.
Unfortunately, neither has panned out thus far in New York. Bridges has been a far cry from an elite defender and altering his shot mechanics has done severe damage to his above-the-break 3-point shooting. So far this season, Bridges has made just 24 percent of his non-corner threes, an area of the floor where he’s consistently shot right around 35 percent.
What Knicks fans should take solace in is the fact he’s shooting an excellent 77 percent at the rim, as well as a career-best 53 percent from mid-range. Bridges is also shooting corner threes at a very healthy 46 percent. If it’s just non-corner threes missing from the offensive package, expect that to come around.
The defense is more of a question mark. The Knicks losing some of that tough, scrappy identity has seen them fall from 10th in defensive rating last year to 16th this season. Defending screening actions has been Bridges’ biggest issue, and that’s what needs to change as soon as possible.
Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets
There is simply no path to title contention for the Nuggets without Jamal Murray in peak form.
At his best, Murray combines with Nikola Jokic to form arguably the most dynamic duo in the league. This year’s version of Murray hasn’t been up to scratch. It matters that much more because of the veterans Denver has lost the last couple seasons, as well as the young talent not being at the level needed either.
Offensively, most of Murray’s game looks the way it should, at least from an efficiency standpoint. The big drop-off is in his 3-point shooting, where he’s made just 33.7 percent of his looks after making at least 40 percent the past three seasons and has shot 37.8 percent for his career. He recently spoke with media and admitted he’s had problems with his hamstring, as well as some plantar fascia, in addition to managing a left knee that has had issues ever since he tore his left ACL back in 2021.
Murray is ineligible for trade after signing a four-year, $208 million extension in September, so the Nuggets can only sit back, watch and hope he rediscovers the groove that helped make them champions just a couple seasons ago.
Honorable mention: Desmond Bane, Memphis Grizzlies. Bane is having a down year, but Memphis’ excellent depth has largely made it a non-factor to this point.
