Top 10 NBA Point Guards Today

We rank the top 10 NBA point guards using a blend of talent and production, weighing defense, leadership, scalability, and playoff value. We explain tough calls like SGA at one, Steph at two, Luka at four, and why Jrue and Derrick White still matter.

• criteria of talent plus production, not hype
• Jrue Holiday and Derrick White as reliable two‑way anchors
• Murray, Fox, Maxey in a competitive middle tier
• Brunson’s poise and late‑game control
• Luka’s offensive genius but defensive and off‑ball concerns
• Cade’s two‑way case and leadership runway
• Steph’s gravity, shooting, and consistency
• SGA’s MVP‑level impact on both ends
• injuries shaping omissions and honorable mentions
• listener challenge to debate order and fit

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Transcript

Framing The Rankings: Criteria And Scope

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show. It's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Now, today we're going to talk about here the top 10 NBA point guards. And I wanted to do this because well, I'm going to talk about all of the positions. That's right. We got point guards, shooting guards, small forwards, power forwards, and centers. We're just going to break this up into different episodes. So this episode, we're going to start off with the point guards. Now, I have some honorable mentions, right? And you might even have some gripes with me when I'm talking about these 10. But keep in mind, if we were just basing it off talent, I would shift some things around. I would. But I'm going talent and production. So with all that being said, let's start it off with my number 10 point guard in the NBA. We gotta give it up to Drew Holiday. Ladies and gentlemen, Drew Holiday's still top 10 to me. Like the man can actually play the game of basketball pretty well and on both ends of the side of the court. So I like Drew's still one of them ones. He's still one of the more underrated players in the game. You got veteran presence. He can still give you about 20 a night with seven, with about seven assists. I'm not gonna say lockdown, lockdown defense, but he'll lock somebody down, that's for sure. He can. He can. And again, ladies and gentlemen, he's not a he's not an irritant to any organization. Hello, John Morant. Hello, sometimes a mellow ball. Like, he's not an irritant to organizations. He's he's a safe pick. And and respectfully, if you put him on, hell, if you put him on my Lakers right now, I think we got something. He could pair pretty daggone well with Luca. He can play off ball, he can be on ball. It doesn't matter. Drew Holiday is still one of them ones. So again, ladies and gentlemen, Drew Holliday, number 10. Goes without saying. Number nine, I gotta go Derek White. And I was hesitant to put Derek White here on this list because he could arguably be a shooting guard. He could, he could. But I look at him, I do see a little point guard-esque, right? So I'm gonna keep him at this point guard uh slot right here. But he's number nine for me, ladies and gentlemen. Because he's younger than Drew, if I'm not mistaken. Let me let me fact check that, but I'm pretty confident he's younger than Drew. But he's also a two-way elite point guard. And because of that youth in comparison to Drew Holiday, he also can give you about 20 a game, somewhere between six to eight assists. Like he's just it's it just so happened that on this team, that's not what they need from him. But Derek White is no slouch, ladies and gentlemen, to be clear. Number nine, I think, is very fair to say. And I think a lot of teams would love to have Derek White. Again, imagine Derek White on my Lakers paired with Luca. I think that works out. I think it works out a little bit better than little Alston Reeves just saying. A little bit better than Marcus Smart, just saying. Same thing with Drew Holiday. So again, nine and ten, Derek White and Drew Holliday, respectfully. If you argue, you have so if you have some gripes with that, I understand that. Are they the most talented players on this list that I could come up with? No, not the most talented. But do they produce better than the more talented players? Your dad's gonna skip you. So again, hard work beats talent when talent don't work hard. I ain't saying the hard, I ain't saying the talent ain't working hard. I'm just saying these brothers are pretty talented and they work hard, they damn selves. So I gotta put them in my top 10. Number eight, this brother has come a decent ways, and I gotta give him credit, right? I gotta give credit when credit due, ladies and gentlemen. All right. He's had some good postseason runs. Regular season got a little tricky. Whether it was injury, whether he was being overshadowed by the star player that he plays alongside. Maybe that even helps aid his game. We got to give Jamal Murray some love at number eight. Now keep in mind, ladies and gentlemen, I could put Jamal Murray a little higher. He's been playing pretty well with Aaron Gordon and Nicola Jokic out. They were a top three seed in the West without him. And I'm talking about Jokik. That's pretty spectacular given the fact that Jamal Murray was the one at the helm kind of holding the team up. So again, I gotta tip my cap to Jamal Murray. The man can scroll. He can playmate. And I'm not gonna say he's trash on the defensive end. Alright? I'm not. He's solid. 6'5, decent point guard. I think his offense, oh, his offense outplays Derek White and Drew Holliday. And while they are elite defensively, if his defense dropped, or if Jamal Murray's offense dropped, then I would put him below them. But because his offense is where it is, and his defense ain't trash, I feel like eight is number number eight is pretty comfortable. But if y'all disagree, I would love to hear so. But let's go ahead and move on up to number seven. I think number seven, six, seven, and eight, for real, for real, you can kind of interchange depending on the time, but just flow with me, right? Number seven, I got De'Aaron Fox. Now keep in mind, Jamal Murray was the all-star this year. So was De'Aaron Fox. And yes, I think Jamal Murray has outplayed De'Aaron Fox this season, but over their careers, I would actually lean De'Aaron Fox as the more established player. Than in the all-star game before. He's been more of a leader to his team than Jamal Murray was. And yes, we could say that's a little tough to say, because again, Jamal Murray is playing behind Nikola Jokic. I get that. I hear that. Still, it's a fact. Gotta call a spade a spade. And I think if you pair Darren Fox with Nikola Jokic, they still could win a championship, respectfully. I'm not trying to take away from Jamal Murray. I'm just trying to highlight De'Aaron Fox. Dearon Fox, if we're talking about scoring, he can do the same thing Jamal Murray does. Playmaking, do the same thing. Defense, do the same thing. And in fact, Darren Fox is arguably the fastest person I'm about to list. It's another one on this list that kind of fast his dagg oneself. He be moving them puppies. But you can't be, you it's it's very tough to eclipse speed sometimes. And De'Aaron Fox got that in spade. So again, ladies and gentlemen, number seven, De'Aaron Fox. And to be honest with y'all, if De'Aaron just upticks his scoring just a little bit more, especially on this Spurs team, there's a case to be made he could make an argument for top five. Just saying. But at seven, we got De'Aaron Fox. Number six is another all-star, ladies and gentlemen, and that's Tyrese Maxie. Hence why I said De'Aaron Fox might be the fastest person on this list. Because, I mean, hell, Tyrese Maxie is fast as what? Like, it is ridiculous. I would love to see them boys in foot race. I would love to see them boys play one-on-one. Unfortunately, the game of basketball is not always one-on-one, though. And Tyrese Maxie, it don't matter because one-on-one, five-on-five, he's still gonna give somebody buckets. Now, scoring-wise, he has done a hell of a job. Playmaking-wise, he's done pretty daggone solid. And keep in mind, too, Joel Embiid has been in and out of the lineups. Joel Embiid is still him, don't get me wrong, when he's healthy. But Tyrese Maxie is starting to make a case for himself, is this is his team. That sounds weird to say, don't it? But it's he's making the case. And defensively, I think he outplays those of Darren Fox and Jamal Mercy. Defensively, Tyrese Maxie, while the shorter player, right? Out of everyone that I've named so far, if you're looking at it just statistically, he's given about two steals, one block. That's not bad for the shortest person on this list. That's not bad at all. So again, ladies and gentlemen, he got the offense, he got the defense. He's helping his team remain in the somewhat thick of things in the playoffs. Or for the playoff race, at least. So again, I gotta put Tyrese Maxie ahead of De'Aaron Fox and Jamal Murray. If you want to talk about historically, I think he's higher than Jamal and a little bit below Fox. But because of the way he's broken out this season, I would be hard-pressed to not put Tyrese Maxie at number six. He's arguably top five, ladies and gentlemen, to be clear. If you say Tyrese Maxie top five, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna have a gripe with you. I might disagree, but I'm not gonna have a gripe with it, because I understand. Now, after that statement, you might be wondering who my who my top five. Well, we gotta go number five, Jalen Brunson. Again, another all-star. He's been an MVP candidate, all NBA caliber player. We know who Jalen Brunson is, okay? He's he's he's being called the the greatest Nick, even though I think that's completely wrong. There's about at minimum three other players that you can put ahead of him, but we're not gonna get into that right now. Jalen Brunson is an elite scorer. I want to say an elite score, a quality playmaker. And I think his scoring and experience is the reason why I have him above Tyrese. Again, if you want to put Tyrese ahead of them, I hear it. Defensively, statistically, Jalen Brunson is not doing what Tyrese does. However, Jalen, I think, is leading his team and has been the leader of this squad for quite some time. So because of that, that leadership, plus his production, again, Tyrese is more talented. Brunson, his production, his execution, it might be a little bit better right now. Holler at me next season, I might switch these things, which I probably will. But right now, especially coming into the season, and right now, Jalen Brunson still serves as number five for me. And again, both of these boys are shorter guards. So it's really impressive that Jalen Brunson's doing what he's doing without the lack of lap, with the lack of athleticism in comparison to a Tyrese Maxie, to a De'Aaron Fox. I'm just saying, and again, everybody else is taller than these boys. So you gotta show some love to the short guards, which is crazy to think about these boys being called short. Because the average height of men is about what, 5'10, 5'11? Just saying they're taller than that. But it is what it is. That's number five. Number four. This one's got me a little bit puzzled. Again, an all-star, although he didn't play. Luca. Luca Donczyk, he's on my squad. Listen, I'm on the fence about Buddy. He could be sliding. Hear me out. Offensively, he he leading the league and scoring, right? He's up there in rebounds at 6'8. And he's one of the best playmakers in the game. It's just that defensively, he's so trash, man. It's so terrible. I hate like the effort not even there. That's the problem. Like the effort not even there, bro. So if the effort was there, I might throw him up a little higher. But because of that, paired with just how he built his archetype, he's not overly athletic. He has to win with offense. That's his defense, his offense. Now, at four, I think this is fair because the other players, I think, either do what he does offensively and give more effort on defense. But Luca is still considered one of the faces of the league, so you gotta still give him some love. And I think at number four, because of his height and stockiness, he can go to the block. He's a multiple-level scorer. So I'm not mad at him. Except for when he gets on the defensive end. That's it. And here's the thing, too, people talk about Jalen Brunson's defense. Jalen Brunson is short. I genuinely believe that's the problem why Jalen Brunson is viewed as not the best defender. But respectfully, Luca has the size to be able to defend and just don't. So again, I might be dropping Luca after a certain point in time. Like there's a world where I view Tyrese Maxie as the better guard over Luca Doncic. Again, just because of effort. And also you can't teach B. I don't know if I'd say that about De'Aaron Fox. He got to uptick that defense a little bit for me. But y'all get my drift, though. Luca's defense is his knock. Offensively, the man sound. I'd love to see him get better off ball. Everybody on this list that I just named can play off the ball. He the only one, literally, he is the only one up here that cannot. And that's a shame. Arguably one other, but we'll talk about it. We'll talk about that. Arguable. Because like I said, it's arguable. But we're going to move on from Luca. We're going to talk about number three. And Cade Cunningham. Now, again, he's an all-star, ladies and gentlemen. At 6'7, 6'8, he virtually can do everything that Luca does. The main difference, the main separator from them two is the athleticism and the defensive effort. Now, if we want to talk about stats, right? I think Luca's given about one one point something steals, okay? Same with Kate. Very similar with Kate. But respectfully, I can throw Cade on a Jalen Brown and not feel overly worried. If I put Luka Doncic on Jalen Brown, oh my God, we lost. We lost easily. Like, I don't want Luca ever guarding any prime player. And I could throw Cade Cunningham on a prime player. Like if he landed on somebody defensively, cool. I'm alright with that. I'ma live and die with that method, if need be. Because again, Cade Cunningham offensively, they have to guard him. And he's a very tough player. Giving me at least 25 a game with at least seven rebounds and eight of six. Like, dog. And he's young too. He's young. I ain't mad at that. To the point that he he's he's a favorite of mine to win the MVP this year. He is a favorite. He's having a very good season. The Pistons are having a very good season, and he's being viewed as the catalyst. Yes, it's a team game. He is easily their best player. If he does not play well, the Pistons don't win. End of day. So again, number three for me, Cade Cunningham. He got everything. We just gotta figure out how much dog he got in him, and can he lead his team to a championship? That's what we gotta figure out over the next couple seasons. But he's there though. Now, number two. You can say this a little nostalgic, right? I hear it. This brother was also supposed to be an all-star. He got injured. We gotta give some, we gotta give some love to Steph Curry. And maybe I'm a little biased because me and Steph around the same height. Alright. I like Steph Curry. I've been like Steph Curry ever since his Davidson years. You feel me? He's still hooping the way he's been hooping. He may, he, he might have lost a step. He might have. I think that's fair to say. But not on the basketball court when it comes to shooting that rock. I'm telling you right now, he is still the best shooter in the game. He can play make like the bet with the best of. Defensively, he's a little bit different. All right, now he actually tries. But the thing is, he can play off ball and on ball, and he's a more established player. We know what we're gonna get from Steph Curry. The level of consistency is normally there. We can say the consistency drops with some of these other players. Steph, I can't quite say that. I can't. He's one of the best leaders in the game that we have when you think about it. He's still one of the best players in the game when you think about it. So respectfully, I gotta keep him at number two for me. And it was hard not putting him number one. It was hard. But end of day, ladies and gentlemen, Steph Curry, offensively, we know what he can give you. Defensively, he at least gives you effort. And he'll get some steals, too. He can play good team defense as well. And on the Warrior Squad, by the way, too, it's not like they have to hide him, but he can be hidden and again play good team defense. So overall, we're we're talking about impact, we're talking about production. He's not the most talented, but he has the best shot in the game as a guard, without question. And that's kind of hard to usurp. So again, ladies and gentlemen, Steph Curry, number two. And finally, ladies and gentlemen, y'all know where I'm going with this. Number one, we gotta go SGA, Shea Gilders Alexander. He was an all-star. He didn't play right. He was injured. We hear that. There was a lot of players that were injured this season. I'm thinking about it. Some of these boys I mentioned were injured. It's crazy. But hear me out, though. SGA, MVP candidate. Some view him as the best player in the game. It would be hard to talk about Steph Curry over SGA point in time. Yes, we can talk about the history of Steph Curry. I'm talking about point in time, though. Which, to be clear, over the last three, four seasons, hell, Shay's been averaging about 30 plus points a game. That's nothing to scall fat. I even think he should be a shooting guard instead of a point guard, but we're here now. Still giving pretty good assist numbers as well, like decent assist turnover ratio. Good defense. He is the only player on this list, I believe, that is in the top 10 in offensive win shares and defensive win shares, ladies and gentlemen. He matters on both ends of the court. Yes, OKC has a dynamic and stout defensive team. He's still in the thick of things, though, defensively. And I can't say he doesn't guard solid players, too. I've seen him guard a couple good players. Not gonna hold you. And we already know what he does offensively. We already know that. So again, ladies and gentlemen, as an MVP candidate, as an MVP front runner in some people, in most people's eyes, I gotta put him as my number one. Now we got to remember, too, we had some injuries. So some of these players I did not count, like Tyrese Halliburton, Damian Lillard, Trey Young, Kyrie Irving, right? We have some honorable mentions. I know y'all didn't hear John Morant, Lamelo Ball, Amin Thompson, Russell Westbrook, Caseon Wallace, Darius Garland, James Harden, Josh Giddy, Isaiah Collier, Ryan Rollins, Dylan Harper, Tyus Jones, Emmanuel Quickley, Andrew Nimhardt, Davion Mitchell. There were a bunch of names that I could have considered. But again, that that top 10 is is, I think, pretty daggone good, especially given the names that dropped due to injury. If we had to include those, uh, I mean, Dame, pretty solid. Trey Young, cool. Kyrie still Kyrie. You know what I mean? Like, we have some good names, but these 10 that I just listed off, I think those are the best 10 guards that we have in the NBA today. But ladies and gentlemen, I am curious what you all think. Do y'all have any gripes with this listing? Who would you rather see in the top 10? And again, this is not purely off talent. If it was off talent, Lamello Ball would be in there. Amin Thompson would be in there. You know what I'm saying? I would potentially show a little love to Isaiah Collier. Isaiah Collier is one of the best playmakers in the game, to be clear. Especially if you're looking at it from an assist turnover ratio. There's a bunch of reasons why I could put people in the top 10. And keep in mind, Isaiah Collier actually plays some good defense. Dylan Harper, I think it's a little bit before his time, but he could draw some central, he could draw some nods. Kasen Wallace, if he won't behind SGA, what would his game look like? Could be top 10 worthy because he's a lockdown defender and does really well on the offensive end, by the way. It's just the hat he just so happens to be on OKC. If he's on another team, I feel like he his his game really does blossom. There are reasons why you could put a bunch of people in the top 10, but my top 10, again, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's solid. So I want y'all to comment and let me know who would you put into your top 10? Who do you not agree with order wise? I'd love to hear it. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode. So please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, tell anyone who's anyone about the show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of Get A Bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.