NBA point guard tier list: Where does Darius Garland rank?

Darius Garland helped the Cleveland Cavaliers qualify for the 2023 NBA playoffs last season. Their first playoff berth this century without LeBron James on the roster. While they had home-court advantage, they were ultimately heavily outplayed by the New York Knicks and lost to them in five games in the first round.

While Garland struggled and was outplayed by Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, his talent is undeniable and through only four seasons in the league, he is already one of the best point guards in the NBA. Averaging 21.59 points and 7.8 assists per game on 46/41/86 splits for the Cavaliers last season was actually a slight drop for Garland, but makes sense when you factor in the addition of Donovan Mitchell in the summer of 2022. But where does Garland rank exactly among the league's point guards?

He's easily ahead of Tyus Jones, Spencer Dinwiddie, Russell Westbrook, and others who are at the bottom of the barrel for a starting point guard in the NBA. He's also ahead of folks like Derrick White and Dennis Schroder, but is he better than Trae Young? Jalen Brunson? Tyrese Haliburton? How much stock do you put in his post-season struggles when it was his first-ever playoff appearance?

We broke the projected starting point guard for all 30 NBA teams into four tiers: Scrubs, starters, stars, and elite. Each group has a relatively equal number of players, incoming rookies were not included, and recent off-court problems were factored into these rankings as well. Injuries were also factored in, but current trade requests were disregarded as were contracts for the most part. This is a talent and on-court impact ranking, not a monetary value ranking. Garland is in the upper half of point guards, but how high up do you think? Top 10? Top 5? Top 3? Well, to start, here are the scrubs.