Ranking Garland and the 30 best point guards in the NBA
30 best point guards in the NBA: Established stars
These half dozen players are those who were not just good this past season (when they played in the cases of Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard) but who have an established track record of success. Ja Morant is the slight exception to that rule, but he was nearly an All-Star last season and was awesome in the postseason, so he makes it here too. These players are All-Star level and any one of them could get hot and push into the MVP conversation for a time.
No. 3: Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns
No. 4: Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
No. 5: Jrue Holiday, Milwaukee Bucks
Chris Paul is the crafty elder statesman, the veteran who is stiff-arming Father Time in order to continue competing at a high level. His games was never predicated on speed, and even at 37 years old he can still control an offense with his passing and get to his spots for that patented midranger.
Ja Morant is at the opposite end of the spectrum, a young player with explosive athleticism. He is so fast and so explosive he breaks defenses sometimes; he also is still working on his defense, which is rather turnstile-ish right now. Jrue Holiday, on the other hand, is one of the best guard defenders in the league and pairs that with excellent passing and good scoring; he doesn’t get the same flashy All-Star berths as the others in this tier but he is right there in terms of impact.
No. 6: Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets
No. 7: Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
No. 8: Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers
When Kyrie Irving is on the court playing basketball, he’s at the very top of this tier. His impact metrics continue to be elite (third among point guards in Estimated Plus-Minus last season, fourth in Box Plus-Minus) and few guards have his finishing ability or deep bag of offensive moves. Yet somehow we had to factor in his annual absences for logically broken reasons, absences that have continued to put his teams in difficult positions.
Damian Lillard is on the other side of that teammate spectrum, a guy who leads by word and deed and also plays an explosive brand of offensive basketball. He missed much of last season with an injury but was still hugely impactful when he did play, despite playing hurt all year. The younger version of Lillard is Trae Young, who has proven himself as a nuclear offensive force but paired that with such abysmal offense that the Atlanta Hawks haven’t yet reached a level of consistent success.
Paul probably deserves to be at the top of this tier, but any of the players below him can easily be shuffled around and likely will be if we do this exercise in another year.