The point guard position is one that has had some of the greatest of all-time, but when looking at each franchise, it’s hard to pick just one for each team.
There have been some amazing point guards in the history of basketball, but it’s rare to find many players who were the “greatest of all time”. Michael Jordan was a shooting guard. Shaquille O’Neal was a center. Kobe Bryant was another shooting guard, and Tim Duncan played power forward. Even today, the best players in the league are rarely point guards. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some great ones. It’s just a league where the best players play a bunch of different positions.
The point guard position has evolved over the years. It was mostly a passer at the beginning of NBA history. The point guard brought the ball up and found who was getting it next. This position was rarely considered when it came to scoring. Even some of the greats at the position in the 80s and 90s were still playing the position the same way. That’s why the greats never played point guard. They wanted to score, and that’s not what coaches wanted out of their point guards.
Who was the best point guard for each NBA franchise?
Fast forward to today, and the position is completely different. Four of the NBA’s top ten scorers are point guards. Players like Ja Morant, Trae Young, and Luka Doncic are the future of the NBA, and they all play point guard. The position started to change in the early 2000s, and it hit a fever pitch once Steph Curry took over the league. Now, the point guard can be the team’s star.
When looking at the best to ever play the position, each team looks a lot different. It’s all based on the history of the team and the way they looked at drafting and developing point guards. Some wanted them to be a superstar like any other position, and others wanted them to play a very specific role. Which point guards led each franchise to prosperity? Some of the answers might surprise you.
Atlanta Hawks — Mookie Blaylock
1992-1999
14.9 points per game
7.3 assists per game
4.6 rebounds per game
This one is so close to being Trae Young, but he’s not quite there yet. Mookie Blaylock would still be considered better if Young’s career ended now. It’s close, which is saying something since Blaylock was the top guy for this team for seven seasons. Young has slightly more to go before he gets to that level.
Blaylock made a name for himself in college with his start defense despite his short stature. At 6-foot, he wasn’t necessarily the tallest point guard in the game. He was a bulldog, and his tenacity allowed him to get the ball out of the hands of bigger players. It was his way of evening the playing field.
Blaylock was drafted by the New Jersey Nets, but he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, where he quickly built great chemistry in Lenny Wilkens’s system. His tenacity made it into the NBA, where he became the Hawks career leader in steals and he was ahead of his time in 3-point shooting. Only five players have led the league two years in a row in steals, and Blaylock is one of them.
He only spent seven years with the Hawks, and his career was never the same after he left Atlanta. He spent the last few seasons of his career with the Golden State Warriors before he had a rough time in retirement. He was arrested multiple times and spent years in prison after a crash killed a woman.
Boston Celtics — Bob Cousy
1950-1963
18.4 points per game
7.6 assists per game
5.2 rebounds per game
Bob Cousy is one of the original greats in the NBA. He was selected with the third-overall pick in the 1950 NBA Draft but a team named the Tri-City Blackhawks. They literally moved to Milwaukee one-year later, and they made another stop in St. Louis before moving to Atlanta and changing their name to just the Hawks.
Anyway, Red Auerbach had the first-overall pick, and Cousy was a star at the nearby Holy Cross. However, Auerbach said he wasn’t going to draft someone to appease the “local yokels” and he took center Charlie Share. The story of Cousy ending up on the Celtics is fascinating. He was sent to Chicago after he refused to report to Tri-Cities when they wouldn’t pay him $10,000. The Chicago team folded, and Cousy was one of three players made available. Three teams would be splitting these three players, and the Celtics literally said they wanted anyone but Cousy. Well, they got Cousy.
It was the best thing that could have happened to the Celtics. Cousy made 13 straight All-NBA teams. He quickly became one of the best point guards in the league for more than a decade. He led the league in assists multiple times, and he was a great scorer at the same time. Leading the league in assists eight years in a row is one thing but doing while also scoring between 18 and 22 points every season puts the superstar status on him.
Cousy was eventually paired with Bill Russell, one of the best players of all time. This led to the Boston Celtics’ first dynasty. He won the league MVP in 1957, the first year Russell entered the league. He retired at the age of 34 as one of the most beloved Boston athletes of all time.
Brooklyn Nets — Jason Kidd
2001-2008
14.8 points per game
9.1 assists per game
7.6 rebounds per game
Current Nets fans who were willing to live through the disaster that was the Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce era, the ones who were so excited for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to come to Brooklyn were just hoping they could go back to the days of success that Jason Kidd once brought to this franchise.
Kidd was traded to the Nets in a trade that, if it happened now, would break the internet. He was traded along with Chris Dudley for Stephon Marbury, Johnny Newman, and Soumaila Samake. It was a deal that changed the future of the Nets and the Suns.
Kidd went to the Nets and immediately played amazingly well. The Nets had all the right pieces to take over a weak Eastern Conference. Kidd was the final piece of the puzzle. In his first season, Kidd led the Nets to the NBA Finals. They beat the Indiana Pacers in one of the most epic games of all time (a triple-overtime victory in the deciding Game 5), then beat the Hornets and Celtics to make the Finals.
The Nets took the momentum all the way through the next season, where they made the NBA Finals again. They lost to the Spurs this time. While it didn’t lead with the Nets winning its franchise’s first championship, it did get the Nets closer than they ever came. Kidd would play for the Nets for five more seasons before he was traded back to the Dallas Mavericks.
Charlotte Hornets — Kemba Walker
2011-2019
19.8 points per game
5.5 assists per game
3.8 rebounds per game
The Charlotte Hornets have a very strange history. They came into the league in 1988, left for New Orleans in 2002, then they returned as the Charlotte Bobcats two years later. Of course, the team would take on the Hornets name again in 2015, and the New Orleans team would become the Pelicans. Even with those many different iterations of the franchise, there wasn’t a ton of success with the Hornets. The team has never made it past the second round of the playoffs, so there aren’t exactly too many legends in this franchise.
One legend is undoubtedly Kemba Walker. His current rough patch with the New York Knicks notwithstanding, Walker was one of the greatest players in the history of this franchise. Walker progressively got better every season with the Hornets. He was a star at UConn and came into the league with a lot of expectations. His scoring got better and better.
He had 12 points per game in his rookie season, averaged 17 points per game in the next three seasons, and then he broke 20 points per game in seasons five through seven. In his final season with the Hornets, he broke 25 points per game for the first time in his career. He was tied with Bradley Beal for 10th in the league for scoring that season.
Walker’s greatest accomplishments came in clutch moments. As he did in college, he had an affinity for making shots when they mattered most. His clutch nature is what made him a legend in Charlotte. There wasn’t a ton of playoff success, as the Hornets/Bobcats didn’t have a great team around Walker. He did what he could to lift this franchise to new heights.
Chicago Bulls — Derrick Rose
2008-2016
19.7 points per game
6.2 assists per game
3.7 rebounds per game
One might think the point guards of the Michael Jordan era should be on this list, but can you name the point guards of the Michael Jordan era? They are starters on a dynasty winner, but they can end up nameless. B.J. Armstrong was the first point guard for the dynasty Bulls. When Jordan returned from his baseball hiatus, he had Ron Harper playing point.
That’s why Derrick Rose is the greatest point guard to ever play for the Chicago Bulls. He was a superstar, leading the Bulls to the number-one seed and winning the MVP in an era where the Eastern Conference had LeBron James. He was taken with the first-overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Rose was an immediate success, winning the NBA Rookie of the Month award in both November and December of the 2008-09 season. His success continued, and he eventually won the Rookie of the Year.
Rose grew from there. He became the first All-Star since Jordan when he made it in his second season. He was a reserve after an ankle injury slowed him down. He once again kept getting better. His MVP season sticks out like a sore thumb now. Between 2008 and 2013, LeBron James won four of the five MVP awards, and Rose won the other. He averaged 25 points, 7.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game.
Rose tore his ACL in 2011, and that really knocked things off the course of greatness. He missed a year and a half and returned for the start of the 2013-14 season. After about a month, he tore his meniscus and missed another season. He played two more seasons after that, with some injuries in between. He never again hit the peaks he had during this MVP campaign, but he’s still the best point guard to ever play for the Bulls.
Cleveland Cavaliers — Mark Price
1986-1995
16.4 points per game
7.2 assists per game
2.6 rebounds per game
This one could go a lot of ways. Kyrie Irving brought the Cleveland Cavaliers the first championship in franchise history in the most epic fashion. World B. Free had some epic seasons late in his career. He was the best thing about those early 1980s Cavaliers teams. However, the easy answer is Mark Price, and sometimes the easy answer is the right answer.
Price is the ultimate sharpshooter. He was a great scorer from all across the court. He would be a superstar today. He often shot over 40 percent from 3 and 90 percent from the free-throw line. He even led the league in free throw percentage in 1992 and 1993. Price hit that magical 50-40-90 number in 1988-89. Only one player prior to Price hit that milestone, and that was Larry Bird.
Price was also famous for showing the league how to avoid the double team. Teams were trying to stop the pick and roll, and they would double team the point guard. Price would split the two players before they got to him, and he would get the ball to the center or the forward that started it all.
This is one of the best point guards of his era, and as time goes by, he’s become incredibly underrated. He held a lot of the Cavs franchise records before LeBron James took them over. He was a great shooter who had a knack for finding the open shooter. Go back and look at Mark Price. He was someone players could still learn about today.
Dallas Mavericks — Jason Kidd
1994-1997, 2007-2012
10.5 points per game
8.4 assists per game
5.5 rebounds per game
The first repeat of the list. Jason Kidd was phenomenal for three franchises. He was very good for the Mavericks, the Suns, and he was a legend with the Nets. However, the Mavericks never really had another great point guard. Obviously, there’s Steve Nash, but he never hit the peak of his powers in Texas, and Kidd’s second stint in Dallas has him just slightly above him here. Brad Davis has his number retired with the Mavs, but Kidd’s contributions were just a little more.
In Kidd’s first go-around, we started to see some of his greatness. He averaged close to 17 points a game in his second season with Dallas. He was trying to be more of a scorer before he settled into the triple-double machine he was later in his career. He was just under 10 assists per game as well.
In the middle of his third season in Dallas, Kidd was traded to the Suns. He spent 12 seasons away from Dallas before returning in 2008. Kidd’s tenure in Dallas ended on a sour note, but unlike most players, Kidd got a second chance. He was averaging close to 10 points and 10 assists for most of his second stint. In Dallas’ run to the 2011 NBA Championship, he averaged 9 points, 7 assists, and 2 steals as he settled into more of a complementary role with the Mavs. It was Kidd’s first championship after getting so close earlier in his career. He’s now the head coach of the Mavericks.
Denver Nuggets — Fat Lever
1984-1990
17.0 points per game
7.5 assists per game
7.6 rebounds per game
The Denver Nuggets had one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history when they sent Kiki Vandeweghe to the Portland Trail Blazers for Fat Lever and a bunch of complementary pieces. What transpired was a change in the Nuggets franchise. Lever immediately took the Nuggets from a fringe playoff team to one of the best teams in the Western Conference. They won 52 games in Lever’s first season, and they made a run to the Western Conference Finals.
It was a controversial move for the Nuggets to give up on Vandeweghe at such a young age, but it was clear the Nuggets needed more. Lever was the perfect complement to the team, and he grew into a superstar in Denver.
Lever was one of the best players in history when it came to getting triple-doubles. He is 10th all-time with 43 in his career. Most of them came in the six seasons he spent in Denver. Lever is constantly considered as a player who was ahead of his time. He would have been appreciated more if he were playing today. That’s why he only made one All-Star Team when he was in Denver. He should have been a perennial member of the All-Star Team.
A player will have a lot of trouble taking over for Lever. He’s one of the best in the history of this franchise, and he rarely gets his due. Seeing what he did on the court was a sight to be seen.
Detroit Pistons — Isiah Thomas
1981-1994
19.2 points per game
9.3 assists per game
3.6 rebounds per game
Isiah Thomas was back in the national lexicon after the Last Dance. He was left off Team USA for the Dream Team despite absolutely deserving to go. It made us all look back at Isiah Thomas’ career, and most had an extra appreciation for what he did for the Detroit Pistons.
The Pistons took Thomas with the second-overall pick in the 1981 NBA Draft. He became one of the best point guards in the history of the game. He made 12 All-Star Teams in his 13 seaosns in the NBA. He was untouchable at the position during a time when the point guard position wasn’t as appreciated. Detroit took him with open arms, and things got even better when the Bad Boy Pistons took over the NBA.
Thomas brought the kind of character and leadership a team like this needed. He kept the team on the right path as they won back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990. He could have had another championship, but the Lakers squeaked one out in 1988 despite Thomas putting up 43 points in Game 6 of the Finals.
Thomas played his entire 13-year career with the Pistons. Outside of Detroit, he isn’t appreciated as much as he should be. He was one of the best players in the history of the league. He helped take down Michael Jordan at the peak of his powers. The Pistons were the scariest team in the league, and that was mostly because Isiah Thomas was the team’s star.
Golden State Warriors — Steph Curry
2010-Present
24.3 points per game
6.5 assists per game
4.6 rebounds per game
For the first time on this list, we see a player who is not only still in the league, but he’s still with the team he made famous. Steph Curry might go down as the greatest point guard in the history of the sport. He’s been with the Golden State Warriors for 11 seasons now, and he’s as good now as he was at any point in the Warriors dynasty. Golden State is asking more of Curry now with Klay Thompson still recovering from his injury, and he’s responding. He’s averaging 26 points per game this season, and he averaged 32 points per game last season when Thompson was out.
Steph Curry completely changed the game of basketball. He told teams that they not only can focus on the 3-point shot but they should. The Warriors went to five straight NBA Finals, winning three of them. They beat every great team along the way. They beat the Chris Paul and James Harden-led Rockets, the Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook-led Thunder, and the LeBron James-led Cavaliers multiple times in the Finals (we won’t talk about the loss, though).
The Warriors became a dynasty after falling way below expectations for most of the team’s existence. Prior to this dynasty, the biggest moment in the team’s existence is beating the Mavericks in a first-round series. Now there are three championships, and they are a constant threat to win another one.
When it’s all said and done, Curry probably will take the crown as the greatest point guard in the history of the game. There has never been a player at this position that not only had an impact on the position but such an impact on the sport as a whole.
Houston Rockets — Calvin Murphy
1970-1983
17.9 points per game
4.4 assists per game
2.1 rebounds per game
This one’s hard. There are a bunch of future Hall of Famers who spent a season or two with the Rockets. Chris Paul was awesome for two seasons. Russell Westbrook was actually really good for his short time in Houston as well. Steve Francis was a superstar, but the supernova that was his star expiring was just as long as his time being great. That leaves us with the great Calvin Murphy.
Murphy was one of the point guards who overcame his short stature to become a Hall of Famer. He used his quickness to overcome the fact that he was 5-foot-9. He was one of the best free-throw shooters in history. He is in the top ten for free-throw percentage over a career, and he has the second-best season free throw percentage. In 1980-81, Murphy missed nine out of his 215 free throws. He was as automatic as possible. Only Jose Calderon ever had a better season from the free-throw line.
Prior to the great years in Rockets history led by Hakeem Olajuwon, Murphy held most of the Rockets’ records for offensive performance. He was a great scorer for his time, and he was an inspiration to many watching the league. In the land of giants, Murphy found a way to dominate on the scoresheet against men with an entire foot on him.
Murphy was able to bring the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981. The Rockets got Moses Malone on the team, and the two of them brought the Rockets further than they ever got before.
Indiana Pacers — Mark Jackson
1994-2000
8.4 points per game
8.1 assists per game
3.8 rebounds per game
The Indiana Pacers don’t really have the best history at the point guard position. We’re looking at the accomplishments of NBA point guards, so the great run by Freddie Lewis isn’t really counted on this list since most of his contributions were done in the ABA. If they did count, he would be the easy choice here. Outside of Lewis, it’s a rough go at the point guard position. Somehow, we land on Mark Jackson as the best point guard during the Pacers’ time in the NBA.
Mark Jackson was the quintessential team player. He did exactly what the Pacers needed to do to win, and the Pacers won a lot with him leading them down the court. The Pacers made the Eastern Conference Finals four times with Jackson in the backcourt, and they knew he was surrounded by great players who he needed to get the ball. When you’re surrounded by the likes of Reggie Miller, Rik Smits, and the best season out of Jalen Rose, it’s best to make sure you’re the compliment to all that.
Jackson played the point guard position as they did in the years prior to his arrival. He made sure he was getting the ball to the open man with a quickness to make things look great. The Pacers had confidence in Jackson to make sure the Pacers’ offense was moving in the right direction.
Jackson was actually traded in the middle of his tenure in the deal that brought Rose to Indiana, but they traded back for him when the Pacers got off to a slow start. They knew Jackson was a more important part of this team than the stat line showed.
Los Angeles Clippers — Chris Paul
2011-2017
18.8 points per game
9.8 assists per game
4.2 rebounds per game
Some of the choices on this list are hard. This one is not. Chris Paul is the obvious choice for the Los Angeles Clippers. He brought on the best era of Clippers basketball, despite the team’s shortcomings in the playoffs. Pairing Paul with Blake Griffin seemed like a no-brainer. These two brought “Lob City” to life. Paul spent just six years as the other Los Angeles team, and he put them on the map in a city that previously only cared about the Lakers.
Chris Paul turns every team he’s on into a winner. He’s been on multiple teams now, and every team he’s on, the conversation must be had whether he’s the best point guard in that team’s history. That is the kind of impact he has on that team. He comes in, and he does exactly what a player has to do to turn them into a winner.
There’s always the big “what if” of what happens if the league doesn’t void a trade between the Hornets and Lakers that would have sent Paul to the same city in different colors. Instead, the Clippers were able to get one of the game’s best players in the prime of his career. During his time with the Clippers, Paul averaged just under 19 points and just under 10 assists per game. He knew what his role was with this team, and he was the best at that role.
Paul is coming to the end of his career, and he left the Clippers in 2018 in search of an NBA Championship. He still doesn’t have that, but he’s on yet another Suns team that could win it all. As far as Clippers fans go, they should always cheer for Paul. He brought the greatest era to the Clippers.
Los Angeles Lakers — Magic Johnson
1979-1996
19.5 points per game
11.2 assists per game
7.2 rebounds per game
Right now, Magic Johnson is the greatest point guard in the history of the sport. Outside of Steph Curry, it’s not particularly close. Magic Johnson had such an impact on this game. He was a superstar scorer who could play every single position as if he was the best guy in the sport at that position. The Lakers wanted to keep the ball in Johnson’s hands as much as possible, so they made him play point guard and walk the ball up the court each possession.
Johnson’s greatest asset was his vision. He could find any player on the court, and he knew how the defense was going to react to the pass to that player. Johnson was moving eight steps ahead of everyone else on the court. His intelligence is underrated, which seems impossible since Johnson is one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
It’s hard to come up with five players better than Johnson. He led the league in assists four times, he led the league in steals twice, and he even led the league in free throw percentage one time. His best season came in 1986-87, where he had north of 23 points per game and led the league with 12.2 assists. In the postseason, he had 21.8 points per game and 12.2 assists. He won five total championships with the Lakers, bringing a dynasty to Los Angeles the Lakers would hold up high for years to come.
Johnson might be considered right up there with Michael Jordan and LeBron James for greatest player ever if his career didn’t get cut short because of a bought with HIV. He got the virus at a time when people were still worried about how people spread it, so he was forced to leave the game of basketball at the age of 31. He came back for one season and was able to average 14 points and 7 assists despite being out of the game for four seasons.
Memphis Grizzlies — Ja Morant
2020-Present
20.3 points per game
7.2 assists per game
4.4 rebounds per game
This might be Mike Conley erasure but what Ja Morant is doing this season is unlike what we’ve seen from a point guard ever in the history of the Memphis or Vancouver Grizzlies. Morant has been one of the best players in the league this season. That deserves recognition. Morant is quickly becoming one of the best players in the league at any position. He’s averaging 26.2 points per game at the time of this writing, good for sixth in the league and ahead of such names as Steph Curry and Nikola Jokic, two MVP candidates.
The Grizzlies have never seen a season like this from a player. There is no point guard season where the player took over the league and single-handedly dragged this team into one of the top seeds in the playoffs. Maybe Morant will get injured or maybe he will struggle down the stretch and this will look bad on this article, but the likelihood of that happening seems small.
Morant is just in his second year in this league, and he’s the best point guard to ever play for this franchise. He loves Memphis, and the team loves him even more. He’s a highlight reel waiting to happen. He often scores 35-40 points in a game when the Grizzlies absolutely need it. It’s clear the Grizzlies are going to get a top-three seed, and Ja Morant deserves to be in the MVP conversation because of it.
Again, this might be too early. This kid is in his second season in the league. However, it seems clear Morant is going to be taking over this list soon anyway. Might as well get on the bandwagon early.
Miami Heat — Tim Hardaway
1995-2001
17.3 points per game
7.8 assists per game
3.2 rebounds per game
The Miami Heat are another team that doesn’t have the greatest history at the point guard position. Mario Chalmers was a good player during those championship teams, but those teams were led by Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh. Recently, Goran Dragic had a really good run with the Heat. He’s so close to the Heat, he’s training in their facility despite being a member of the Toronto Raptors. However, the decision for the best in franchise history has to go to Tim Hardaway.
The Heat paired Hardaway with Alonzo Mourning, and the pairing was really good for the Heat. Hardaway was able to make the second team All-NBA and two All-Star teams during his time in South Florida. The Heat of this era were known for their playoff battles, especially against the Knicks.
One thing many might not know is Hardaway went to the Heat late in his career. He was almost 30 when he landed in Miami. It didn’t stop this from becoming his prime. That’s why despite all the success since Hardaway, he’s some Heat fans’ favorite player. His best season came in 1996-97 when he broke 20 points per game for the first time in his career.
Hardaway would be someone who had a better career if it wasn’t for the injuries. His seasons were derailed when he was at the peak of his powers. He could have been something even better than he was, which is sad to think about.
Milwaukee Bucks — Oscar Robertson
1970-1974
16.3 points per game
7.5 assists per game
4.9 rebounds per game
This is another obvious one. Before Steph Curry came around, it was clear that it was Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson at the top of the point guard rankings. Oscar Robertson wasn’t peaking Oscar Robertson when he was playing for Milwaukee, but he was still the best point guard to play for this franchise. Averaging north of 16 points and 7 rebounds over four seasons is something the Bucks would have loved to have in any era. While Jrue Holiday is playing incredibly well now, he’s not anywhere near Oscar Robertson’s contributions.
Robertson’s peak came with the Cincinnati Royals, a team that no longer exists. So, he gets to be honored here. So let’s talk about all of his contributions to the league. Robertson was the first player to average a triple-double for a season, and stringing his first five seasons together would give him a triple-double average while also averaging more than 30 points per game. Robertson was a dominant force.
Robertson was surprisingly traded to the Bucks in 1970. There are a lot of rumors as to why it happened, with the most prominent being that head coach Bob Cousy was not a fan of how popular Robertson was. It worked out, as he was paired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Milwaukee. They had a league-best 66 wins in their first season together. They ended up winning the NBA Championship in commanding fashion.
In his final season with the Bucks, Robertson led them to another NBA Finals appearance. He lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics. The season after he retired, they fell to last place. It shows the Bucks were led by Robertson despite his advanced age on the court. He was one of the best of all time, and his greatness was not much less when he was with the Bucks.
Minnesota Timberwolves — Ricky Rubio
2011-2017
10.1 points per game
8.1 assists per game
4.1 rebounds per game
Listen, we know this looks bad, but the Minnesota Timberwolves have a very bad history with point guards. Who was better than Ricky Rubio? Sam Cassell had a much better peak, but he only lasted two seasons before he was traded to the Clippers. Terrell Brandon was pretty good before his career was cut short by injuries. Stephon Marbury should be on this list, but he sabotaged a Marbury-Kevin Garnett duo that would have been a lot of fun to watch for years. So, this is how we end up with Ricky Rubio being the best point guard in Timberwolves history.
Rubio chose to stay in Spain for the first two years after he was drafted by the T-Wolves. He finally came to the league in 2011, and he was pretty good. Again, nobody is trying to claim Ricky Rubio is in the same conversation as Oscar Robertson or Magic Johnson, but the Wolves need a representative.
Anyway, Rubio was a very consistent player during his time in Minnesota. He averaged north of 10 points in five of his six seasons in Minnesota. He dealt with a few injuries in Minnesota, and he never really lived up to the hype. This is a hurtful addition to this list, and it just shows the painful history of the Timberwolves as a whole. No matter how close this franchise got to greatness, something always got in the way.
New Orleans Pelicans — Chris Paul
2005-2011
18.7 points per game
9.9 assists per game
4.6 rebounds per game
Yeah, this one is Chris Paul again. Ignoring how messy the end of his New Orleans tenure was, Chris Paul was an important member of this franchise. He grew to be a star in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when the Hornets were forced to play in Oklahoma City. He made an impact right away. He led all rookies in total points, assists, steals, and double-doubles. That steals number was also a league leader, as Paul showed tenacity and prowess to get the ball from his opponent.
About two years into his career, the Hornets finally made the move back to New Orleans full time. In 2007-08, Paul became one of the best players in the league. He was second in the MVP race after leading the Hornets to a franchise-record 56 wins. Paul played very well in the playoffs that season, but the San Antonio Spurs took them out in the second round.
Paul was so good with the Hornets, that on a few occasions he came close to a quadruple-double. He was always a few steals short of the miraculous feat. Paul was already the best point guard in the league at this point, and there were already questions about how long that could stay in New Orleans. He ended up signing a $68 million extension to quiet the haters for now.
Paul suffered a few injuries over the next couple of seasons, and the Hornets struggled to have the same success they had early in Paul’s career. It seemed like they would eventually lose Paul to free agency, especially after he showed displeasure with the firing of head coach Byron Scott. Also, the ownership situation couldn’t help. Still, the six-year run with Chris Paul was special for the city of New Orleans as they looked to recover from the devastation of Katrina.
New York Knicks — Walt Frazier
1967-1977
19.3 points per game
6.3 assists per game
6.1 rebounds per game
The New York Knicks have one era of greatness, which is a major rarity for a New York team. They’ve won just two NBA Championships. and they both came in the time Walt Frazier was the man in the backcourt. Walt Frazier spent 10 seasons with the New York Knicks, winning those two championships.
The Knicks drafted Frazier out of SIU, just a few months after he won the NIT Tournament in Madison Square Garden. In his rookie season, he got the nickname Clyde because he wore a fedora that reminded people of the character in the movie “Bonnie and Clyde”. He got better in his sophomore season, almost doubling his points to 17.5 a game. He became a superstar in year three, and that led to the Knicks’ first championship.
Frazier made his first All-Star Game in 1970. It was his first of seven selections during his Knicks career. That season is known as the year Willis Reed came back on the court on one leg in the NBA Finals. We all know the moment, but Reed only ended up scoring two points before going off again. What really happened was Frazier dominated the rest of the series with Reed out, and he helped win the Knicks their first championship.
The Knicks would make the NBA Finals in 1972 and 1973, winning the latter. It still stands as the only two NBA Championships in the history of the Knicks. Frazier left the Knicks owning most of the team’s franchise records. Patrick Ewing has broken a lot of those records, but Frazier is still one of the best players to ever grace Madison Square Garden.
Oklahoma City Thunder — Russell Westbrook
2008-2019
23.0 points per game
8.4 assists per game
7.0 rebounds per game
Russell Westbrook is someone who comes with a lot of controversies when added to lists like these. Some say he padded the stat sheet over just making the best play to make the team a winner. His Oklahoma City Thunder team fell below expectations. They had Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Westbrook on the same team. Those three at one time were three of the five best players in the league.
Westbrook won the MVP after averaging the second triple-double in NBA history. He was celebrated for years for wanting to stay in Oklahoma City as James Harden got traded and Kevin Durant left in free agency. It’s rare to see a player’s image change this quickly, but the frustration with Westbrook’s playstyle grew as the years continued.
However, this is specifically looking at his time with the Thunder. He changed his game every season to fit what the Thunder needed most. In two seasons, he led the NBA in scoring. In two different seasons, he led the NBA in assists. He was whatever the Thunder needed to win on a nightly basis. Did he sometimes get empty stats? Maybe, but the narrative around him wasn’t exactly well deserved until later in his career.
Westbrook averaged a triple-double for three seasons in a row. No player will likely ever do that again. His contributions to the Thunder are endless, despite the fact he never won a championship there.
Orlando Magic — Penny Hardaway
1994-1999
19.0 points per game
6.3 assists per game
4.7 rebounds per game
The Penny Hardaway-Shaquille O’Neal pairing in Orlando was one of the most fun pairings in the league during the mid-90s. It was a perfect NBA Jam-type duo, which was all the rage back then. Thus, why the video game was so popular. O’Neal went on to be one of the best players of all time. Penny Hardaway did not.
Hardaway was traded immediately after he was picked third overall by the Golden State Warriors so they could get the rights to Chris Webber. Hardaway apparently made a push to go to the Magic so he could play alongside Shaq. He impressed them with multiple workouts and a pickup game alongside other Magic players. That motivated the Magic to make the draft-day trade, changing the history of three star players and two franchises.
Hardaway learned the point guard position from Scott Skiles. He was so good that season, he came in second for Rookie of the Year to the player he got traded for, Chris Webber. The next season, Hardaway played even better, and he helped lead the Magic to a franchise-record 57 wins. They made a miraculous run to the NBA Finals, beating a Jordan-less Chicago Bulls team on the way.
Hardaway showed he could be a star in the 1995-96 season. Shaq was injured to start the year, but Hardaway led them to a 17-5 record. It was the last season they played together, and they made another run to the Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Jordan returned from his baseball adventures and they won the series. O’Neal left for the Lakers in the offseason, leaving Hardaway as the only star left in central Florida. He eventually had a devastating knee injury, returned for one season after that, then the Magic traded him to the Suns. He was great while in Orlando, but like everything that is Orlando basketball, that greatness had a shelf life.
Philadelphia 76ers — Allen Iverson
1996-2007, 2009-10
27.6 points per game
6.1 assists per game
3.9 rebounds per game
Allen Iverson is one of the greatest playmakers to ever hit a basketball court. When Iverson was at his peak, his impact on the game was unlike anyone not named Jordan. Even Kobe Bryant can’t say he took over a game in the same way Iverson could.
Iverson started his career after he was the first-overall pick out of Georgetown. He came into Philadelphia with some controversy, going to jail after a bowling alley confrontation turned into a brawl. That conviction was thrown out, but it didn’t end those casting doubt on his first-overall selection.
Iverson was immediately great. He scored 23 points per game in his rookie season. It took him three years to win the NBA scoring title for the first time. He would win it three more times as a member of the 76ers. He put Sixers basketball on the map.
Iverson’s greatest accomplishment came in 2001 when he carried the 76ers to the NBA Finals with Aaron McKie and Dikembe Mutumbo. Not only did he take this very bad team all the way through a weakened Eastern Conference, but he even took over Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers and won the game. That was the only game the 76ers won, but it was an epic performance.
Phoenix Suns — Steve Nash
1996–1998, 2004-2011
14.4 points per game
9.4 assists per game
3.1 rebounds per game
Steve Nash going to the Phoenix Suns is one of the greatest moves in the history of the league. He led the Suns’ “seven seconds or less” offense. Nash actually started his career with the Suns when they selected him in the first round of the 1996 NBA Draft. They took him 15th overall and barely played him in his first season. In his second season, he became a good three-point shooter. The Suns traded him after two seasons of underutilization, and he spent the next six seasons in Dallas.
Nash was signed to the Suns on a six-year deal worth $63 million total. The Mavs didn’t want to go past the four-year, $36 million deal they originally offered. Nash went for the bigger money, and he joined a Mike Dantoni offense that needed Nash. He was the small, athletic guard who was perfect. He ended up taking a team that wasn’t supposed to be good to a 62-win record. Only three teams have had a better turnaround in NBA history.
Nash became the first Canadian player to win the NBA MVP that season, causing the Mavericks to immediately regret their blunder. He ended up winning the MVP again in 2006, but both years the Suns lost in the Western Conference Finals.
Nash was incredibly efficient, which is why the Mike Dantoni offense worked. He made the 50-40-90 club four times. He also led the league in assists five times. Nash was one of the best players in the league in Phoenix. Who knows if he ever hits those heights in Dallas. Was this a player coming into his own at 30, or was it Nash getting to the right place at the right time? No matter what, there is no Suns point guard who comes close to Nash.
Portland Trail Blazers — Damian Lillard
2012-Present
24.6 points per game
6.6 assists per game
4.2 rebounds per game
One of the few point guards on this list that are A. still active B. still on the team in question and C. a no-doubter when it comes to best point guard in franchise history. Damian Lillard is still in Portland for now. He’s one of the few players in the league that can still take over a team all by himself. Lillard is hurt right now, but when he’s on the court, he is a superstar. He decided to stay in Portland while the rest of the league was putting together superstar rosters.
Lillard has superstar numbers across the rest of his career. He has been one of the best scorers every single year. Sure, maybe it’s because he has to be on this Blazers team, but he can constantly score between 25 and 30 points per game in every season.
Since he joined the league, Lillard made the All-Star Team six times, he was on the All-NBA second team four times, and he even made the All-NBA first team one time. He also made the list of NBA 75, named before this season for the best 75 players in honor of the 75th anniversary of the league. Lillard making that list is special.
Lillard is someone who should be on a winning team. It’s unfortunate he can only go so far in the playoffs due to his lack of superstar teammates and the many great players in the Western Conference. Still, Lillard is a certified star and basically the King of Portland.
Sacramento Kings — Mike Bibby
2001-2008
17.6 points per game
5.4 assists per game
3.2 rebounds per game
The Sacramento Kings have one great era. Since moving to Sacramento in 1985, the Kings made the playoffs 10 times. That’s not a lot. It’s even worse when we realize that Mike Bibby made the playoffs five of those ten times. Not only that, but Bibby won four playoff series in his time in Sacramento (and it should have been five, but we’ll get to that in a moment). The Kings won one other series without Bibby on the roster.
Listen, this wasn’t all Bibby, but he held a huge responsibility for winning those games and those series. Bibby was traded to the Kings after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis. He ended up pairing perfectly with Chris Webber, a player that so many coaches were trying to get the best out of. It turns out he just needed the right point guard to play with. Bibby helped the Kings to the best record in the league in his first season in the California capital.
The Kings won 61 games in the regular season, and then they pretty easily ran through the Jazz and Mavericks in the first two rounds of the playoffs. In the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, most people are well aware of the crime that happened on the court in Game 6. The referees took over the game, and the Lakers were handed a win, that ultimately led to a series win in Game 7. It was an atrocity, and it probably changes the way we look at the Kings franchise as a whole, Chris Webber’s Hall of Fame credentials, and Mike Bibby’s legacy.
Either way, Bibby stayed with the Kings for seven total seasons. They never really had the playoff success they saw in their first year together. They were still a good regular-season team, but something didn’t gel like it did in that first season. Bibby still did enough in his Kings career to garner the notion as the best point guard in franchise history.
San Antonio Spurs — Tony Parker
2001-2018
15.8 points per game
5.7 assists per game
2.8 rebounds per game
The San Antonio Spurs dynasty is based upon two men. Tim Duncan and head coach Gregg Popovich get a large majority of the credit for bringing four championships to a relatively small Texas city that isn’t known to bring in the big named free agents. However, there were other players who played a pivotal role in getting the Spurs those championships. None were more important than the Frenchman Tony Parker.
Parker was almost completely ignored by NBA teams, including the Spurs themselves. He had a rough first workout, but he adjusted his game and impressed the Spurs brass. Parker just kept getting better at an incredibly fast rate, and he was the team’s starting point guard by the end of his rookie season. At the end of the 2001-02 season, Parker became the first foreign-born guard to make it on the NBA All-Rookie first team.
By his second year in the league, Parker became a legit starting point guard, averaging more than 15 points per game and 5 assists. He helped the Spurs win their second championship, beating the New Jersey Nets in the Finals 4 games to 2.
Popovich continued to push Parker to be even better. There were rumors he was going after Jason Kidd, which had to light a fire under Parker. He got his scoring numbers up, and he was eventually good for between 18 and 20 points every single game. Parker, Duncan, and Manu Ginobili hold the record for most wins by a trio of players in the postseason in NBA history. They won four championships together, and they were one of the scariest teams in the postseason every year. The most impressive feat by this group is having more championships than they had first-round defeats.
Toronto Raptors — Kyle Lowry
2012-2021
17.5 points per game
7.1 assists per game
4.9 rebounds per game
Kyle Lowry had a whole career before he became a member of the Toronto Raptors. He spent three seasons with the Grizzlies and three seasons with the Rockets before he ended up in Toronto. There were a few moments that changed Lowry’s career. He was on a bad path, but when the Raptors hired Masai Ujiri as general manager, he was able to take accountability for the rest of his career. Then, the Raptors traded away Rudy Gay after a rough start, allowing Lowry and DeMar DeRozan to take over as leaders for the team.
Lowry became the star that Ujiri knew he could become. The Raptors rumbled to the number-three seed in the Eastern Conference after starting the season 6-12. He used that momentum to post career highs in almost every category, and he had a good showing against the Brooklyn Nets in the playoffs. He actually had the game-winning shot in his hands in Game 7, but Paul Pierce ended up in the right place to block it.
He was a free agent that offseason, and he was expected to garner major interest. He ended up re-signing with the Raptors on a four-year extension. This is where he would grow the legend that is what we think about Kyle Lowry today. By 2015-16, he was breaking 20 points per game. He could rebound from the point guard position, although he wasn’t the normal assist guy teams had from the guy walking the ball up the court. Lowry was always a threat to go to the basket, and he was far from a pass-first player.
Lowry helped the Raptors win the first title north of the border. In the title-clinching game against the Warriors, Lowry had 26 points and 10 rebounds, showing he had an immense impact on a championship team. In a league full of stars, the Raptors always looked like a team full of just enough. Instead, they added Kawhi Leonard, and they followed his lead to a championship. Lowry has since joined the Miami Heat, but his legacy will always be in Canada.
Utah Jazz — John Stockton
1984-2003
13.1 points per game
10.5 assists per game
2.7 rebounds per game
John Stockton and Karl Malone will always be one of the greatest one-two punches. They might be the best pairing to never win a championship. Stockton played almost 20 years in the NBA, building his resumé as an old-school point guard who also had new-school scoring ability. Stockton led the league in assists for nine seasons in a row. He also led the league in steals twice. He used those skills to turn into offense, scoring between 15 and 17 point per game during his entire peak.
Stockton’s best attribute is he was insanely durable. He was an NBA Ironman. He missed games in a season twice. Not significant games. Only twice did he not play all 82 games (or 50 in the lockout-shortened season). He was also incredibly efficient. His shooting percentage for his career was .515. Three times he shot over .540 on the season, including a ridiculous .574 in the 1987-88 season.
Stockton later in his career was a player you wanted taking the last shot of the game. In Game 6 of the 1997 Conference Finals, he won the game on a buzzer-beater shot over Charles Barkley. That shot sent the Jazz to their first NBA Finals.
Stockton made the playoffs in all 19 seasons of his career. After the first two, that was Stockton leading them there. He should have had a championship, but Michael Jordan was in the way of their best team. He was so good at passing the ball and so efficient when he decided to shoot the ball, he just needed the right opportunity to take a team to another level.
Washington Wizards — Gilbert Arenas
2003-2011
25.0 points per game
5.7 assists per game
4.2 rebounds per game
Hey, we’re ending with another controversial pick! We’re more than 9,000 words into this, and you’re still here, so we leave you with the one and only Gilbert Arenas. Looking back at Gilbert Arenas’ career as a whole, it’s a strange one. “Agent Zero” was a budding star with the Warriors, but the Wizards came out during restricted free agency and offered him a $60 million contract.
After battling injuries in his first season in Washington, Arenas turned into a superstar in his second year in the nation’s capital. He made a great pairing with Larry Hughes, two guards who averaged close to 50 points per game. Hughes and Arenas also averaged close to five steals per game, both finishing in the top six in the league in the category. They ended up making the playoffs for the first time since they were the Washington Bullets.
After two more seasons where Arenas was one of the best scoring guards in the league, it seemed like the Wizards were in position to take another step towards a championship. Despite Arenas scoring numbers, the Wizards had trouble building around Arenas, and it was clear he tried to put the team on his back on a nightly basis. That caused Arenas to put too much stress on his body, and it began to break down. He had two injury-riddled seasons before coming back for one more superstar run in 2009-10. He was eventually traded in the middle of the 2010-11 season to the Orlando Magic.
Arenas went from superstar to out of the league in what felt like the blink of an eye. He was a 28-year-old scoring 22 points per game, then two years later he was averaging 4 points per game for Memphis. Obviously, the downfall started with the gun incident, where he brought weapons into the Wizards’ locker room, and they were reportedly pulled out during an argument. He also mocked the league during their investigation, pushing the league to suspend him. Something just clicked after that, and his NBA career was over within a few years.