Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Chris Paul are some of the brightest NBA talents. Any NBA starter is a world-class athlete with a distinguished skill set. Although modern basketball seems to be positionless, the point guard is instrumental to the team’s success.
Additionally, he has to be the most skilled with a high basketball IQ in order to conduct the team’s offense. There are several notable point guards in NBA history. Here we will discuss who is the greatest point guard of this generation.
NBA frontrunners for best point guard
Basketball is a generalist sport. Therefore, all players have to be good at the fundamentals of the game such as passing and shooting. This criterion holds most true for the point guard. However, having an absolutely unique skillset makes one eligible as a front runner for the best of this generation. There are three-point guards active in the league, each of who has an absolutely unique playstyle.
The three-point guards are Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors, Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, and Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns. Each of these players is so talented, in at least one facet of the game, that they all have claims to be the best point guard of this generation. They are truly distinguished only in terms of accolades.
Steph Curry has 3 championships, Kyrie Irving has 1 and Chris Paul has just come off his first trip to the NBA Finals. While their levels of overall success have varied each of the three has carried their team with their scoring and facilitating through several crucial stretches of their career.
What makes Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving special?
Stephen Curry is simply the best shooter in the game of basketball. He has the All-time record for most three-pointers ever and still has a long way to go before the end of his career. Additionally, he has been the cornerstone of the Golden State Dynasty, during their years of finals appearances between 2015 and 2019.
He has already drawn comparisons to NBA greats like Magic Johnson despite being over 5 inches shorter. He is one of the greatest point guards, simply because of his lightning-fast shooting ability to complement excellent passing and play-making. This makes him a serious threat to the opposition.
The greatness of Curry can easily give him an edge over the other two players on the list. Several NBA players joke that one has to guard Stephen, all the way from the parking lot, entering the stadium
Kyrie Irving is contemporary to Stephen Curry. The only player with a skill set that mesmerizes people as much as curry if not more. Kyrie’s ball-handling control and finishing ability seem otherworldly, even in the NBA. He is simply the most skilled finisher in basketball, especially under the rim. One definitely can’t argue that he can finish at the rim unlike any guard in this league.
Kyrie can do it all. Catch and shoot, pull up jumper, left-hand finish, right hand, reverse. In fact, it would be a challenge to name a move that Kyrie couldn’t pull off. Additionally, he hit one of the greatest shots in NBA history to win Cleveland its 2016 championship. Having such transcendental finishing ability along with a high basketball IQ pushes Kyrie into the conversation
Last but not the least: Chris Paul
Finally, we have The Point God Chris Paul. He is the only one of these players to not have a championship to his name yet. However, Chris Paul has, without a doubt, the highest basketball IQ in the league. Despite not being as good a shooter or as good a finisher, his court vision and passing ability surpass both Curry and Irving. He is the perfect point guard, at least in terms of having the essential skillset.
Chris Paul can take the worst players in the league to the NBA playoffs as he did with OKC and the Phoenix Suns. He can make roleplayers feel like stars. Additionally, He is the true essence of a player who can make his team better. He is also ranked 3rd in the all-time assists leaders and is about 5000 assists away from taking the number 1 spot. This gives cp3 a claim to contending for the best point guard of this generation
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