5 biggest All-NBA questions remaining this season
No 5: Who are the Third-Team Guards?
It’s still early, but it’s tough to see any scenario which would upend the two parts of the team that seem like sure things: the first and second team guards.
James Harden is James Harden. The only question left in his season is whether he wins his second MVP or finishes runner-up for the third time. Steph Curry, meanwhile, is averaging a quiet 28 a game (ha) while flirting with the second 50/40/90 season of his career (he’s currently shooting 48.8 percent from the field). Only an injury would rob him of his first First-Team selection since 2016.
Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving are almost as much of a lock for the second team. Both of their teams are solid bets to host a first-round playoff series and they are the undisputed engine behind each squad (Irving’s “I don’t owe anybody shit” notwithstanding). Their numbers speak for themselves.
After these four, nothing is settled. Russell Westbrook, Ben Simmons, Bradley Beal and Kemba Walker are the four most likely candidates to fill out the guard spots, although Kyle Lowry, D’Angelo Russell and Donovan Mitchell can’t be ruled out. Each has imperfect candidacies.
Westbrook’s season, in particular, is fascinating. He is averaging another triple-double but with historically bad shooting numbers, even for him. He hits less than one out of every four 3-pointers he takes, and his 44.7 effective field goal percentage makes him arguably the worst high volume shooter of the last decade (not counting the farce that was Kobe’s extended retirement tour).
Still, he’d probably get the nod if the season ended today, along with Ben Simmons, in part because their teams are performing so much better Bradley Beal’s Wizards. It’s a shame because the stats he’s putting up for a dreadful Washington team (25, 5 & 5 on 53.6 eFG%) are outstanding. Kemba’s slightly worse numbers are made up for Charlotte’s near .500 campaign thus far, and a hot shooting month could vault him back into a Third-Team position that seemed like a foregone conclusion earlier in the year.