Ranking the Top Ten NBA Point Guards of the 2022-23 Season

March 15, 2023

Aidin Ebrahimi ranks his top-10 point guards for the 2022-2023 season. With players like Steph, Dame, and Ja, the talent at the PG spot is the highest it's ever been.

Many years ago, the point guard was looked at as someone who'd run the plays, get everyone on the team organized, set up the scoring superstars, and get everyone involved. But in the past decade, we've seen the rise of point guards like Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard, who have completely shifted the perception of what it means to be a quality PG in today's NBA.

Players like Rajon Rondo aren't the norm anymore, as the new-age point guards have to create their own shots, and more often than not, they are their team's leading scorer.

With that in mind, this article will focus on ten (plus one honorable mention) point guards who are truly the best of the best and give their team a chance every single night. This article will only rank the players who have played the majority of their minutes this season at the PG spot, according to Basketball Reference. For example, Luka Doncic who played 97% of his minutes at PG last season, has only played 27% of his minutes at PG this year, so he is not eligible for this ranking.

Honorable Mention: Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers):

For the first time since the LeBron era, the Cavs are finally respectable. They are currently fourth in the Eastern Conference, with a winning percentage of 62%. The last time that the Cavs won over 60% of their regular season games without LeBron was in the 1992-93 season, where they eventually fell to their bitter rivals, the Jordan-led Bulls. Most of the Cavs' success can be summed up by the play of Darius Garland and their new acquisition, Donovan Mitchell.

"Spida" has received most of the credit for Cleveland's success, after all, he famously scored 71 points against Chicago in Cleveland's first game of 2023 and has scored 40 points or more nine times this season. Mitchell was rewarded with an All-Star appearance, but many people are overlooking Garland's contributions to the team due to Mitchell's success. So far this season, Garland has had 17 games where he put up double-digit points and assists. In those games, the Cavs have a record of 13-4.

#10. Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns):

Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, despite never winning an NBA championship. Paul is one of the last "true" point guards left. Although Paul's numbers have declined, it's still obvious that he's one of the best PGs in the association. It's also noteworthy that Paul's numbers are affected by a slow start to the season. Since December 15, Paul has averaged 14.8 points, 9.3 assists, and 1.6 steals while shooting 45% from the field and 39% from three.

Paul is still a very capable floor general. Ever since Devin Booker's return from injury on February 7, 2023, the Suns have had a record of 8-4 when Booker and Paul have both played. When Paul and Booker are healthy, the offense runs very smoothly, and we haven't even talked about Kevin Durant, who will be re-evaluated in a few weeks. "The Point God" is still dropping dimes like he was in his prime, as he's ninth in total assists this season despite only playing in 48 games.

#9. Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks):

"Ice Trae" is still lethal. Like Paul, Young had to go through a slow start to the season. By mid-December, Young was shooting 29% from three, but ever since the new year, his shots have started to fall. Since January 2, Young has averaged 26.7 points and 10.3 assists a night with 46/37/89 shooting splits. Like always, the biggest problem with Young's game has been his turnovers, as he has turned the ball over more than four times a game in his career and this year is not any different.

However, Young's play is the reason why the Hawks are still in the playoff race. Trae is leading the Hawks in many advanced stats, including Value Over Replacement Player (3.2), Offensive Box Plus/Minus (5.7), Overall Box Plus/Minus (3.9), Offensive Win Shares (4.8), Overall Win Shares (6.0), and PER (22.8). Young is currently leading the entire league in assists with 624 assists (10.1 per game).

#8. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder):

What a season this has been for OKC, entering the year with little to no expectations, especially after the unfortunate injury to their second overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, Chet Holmgren. Many had expected yet another season with less than 25 wins. But OKC is 34-35 right now, which is above even the wildest of expectations. Not even the most optimistic OKC fan would see a season like this coming, even with a healthy Holmgren.

SGA's advanced stats are incredible, he's currently sixth in the league in PER (27.4), fifth in VORP (4.7), fifth in Win Shares (9.7), and fourth in Win Shares per 48 (0.229). His raw stats are incredible, too. He's leading the league in free throws made despite three other players attempting more free throws than him in the season. He's top five in PPG and SPG (31.2 and 1.7), and he has only turned the ball over 164 times, despite having the ninth highest Usage% in the league (32.7%).

#7. Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers):

Ever since he first stepped onto the court as a rookie, I knew that Tyrese Haliburton would end up doing big things in this league. His love for the game was apparent, and he just seemed like a fun player who'd dominate for many years to come. There were a lot of people who were sleeping on Haliburton due to the Kings' failures, but when he arrived in Indiana, the majority of NBA fans began to realize Haliburton's true prowess. Although this season has been slightly disappointing for the Pacers, it's miles ahead of what they achieved last season.

Tyrese has led Indy to a 28-26 record this year, which is a winning percentage of 52%. That'd be good enough for seventh in the East right now, but the Pacers have been tragic without their star man. With a record of 3-12 without Tyrese, they're slipping out of the Playoff picture. This shows Haliburton's value to Indiana, who is in the top 15 in major advanced metrics such as VORP (4.2), Offensive Rating (128.8), Win Shares (7.6), PER (23.8), and BPM (7.2). With him, the Pacers are firmly in the playoff race. Without him, they're one of the worst teams in the NBA.

#6. Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee Bucks):

Jrue Holiday is one of my favorite players ever. He is not controversial, is a devout family man, and plays the game with a lot of love. Most NBA fans seem to recognize Holiday's excellence, but year after year he kept getting snubbed for the All-Star game. Until this season. In three seasons with Milwaukee, Holiday has won an NBA championship and was named to two All-Defensive teams, and finally earned his second All-Star selection this year. His first selection came 10 seasons earlier, and this was the longest gap between All-Star selections for any player in NBA history. It really makes you wonder why Jrue hasn't been named an All-Star four or five times throughout his career.

Throughout this season, Jrue has had an average Plus/Minus Net per 100 Possessions of +9.3, but you don't even need advanced metrics like this to prove Jrue's value to Milwaukee. Since joining the team, the Bucks have gone 16-24 without Holiday. If we take out the games that Giannis Antetokounmpo missed out of the equation, we'll still be left with a record of 13-17. Giannis is obviously the superstar, but Jrue is the beating heart of this Bucks team, with his unparalleled veteran leadership and defense.

#5. Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks):

Despite missing eight games early in the season due to his controversies, for the first time since leaving Cleveland Kyrie Irving is no longer the most controversial point guard in the NBA thanks to Ja Morant's antics (we'll get to him later). Despite a disappointing 5-6 record with the Mavs so far, Kyrie has proven that he's still a force to be reckoned with. Kyrie is currently eight in the league in points per game (27.2) and is looking to go on a deep playoff run with Luka Doncic.

It's slightly concerning that Luka and Kyrie have a 3-6 record together, and it's definitely not because of the performance of either of the two superstars. Kyrie is shooting a career-best True Shooting% in Dallas (64.5%), and his Win Shares per 48 of 0.217 is the second-highest mark of his career. There have been many examples in NBA history of two talented players just not working out and it not being either's fault. Anyway, there's no need to panic, because they certainly can figure things out. But if that doesn't happen, Kyrie has a free ticket out of Dallas in the offseason.

#4. De'Aaron Fox (Sacramento Kings):

Now, this is a guy who plays the game at 100 miles per hour. Flying at opposing defenders like a tornado and always being incredibly fun to watch. Fox finally got his first All-Star selection this year and is currently leading the Kings to one of their best seasons in recent memory. The Kings are currently 40-27, which is the first time that they've won 40 games or more since 2006, the last time that the Sacramento Kings made the playoffs.

Though Fox has always been inconsistent with his three-point shots, he has always made up for it with his ability to make two-point shots. Fox is shooting 80.6% at the rim this year, which is better than LeBron James throughout his entire career. Obviously, LeBron attempts more shots at the rim than Fox, but this is still very impressive. In most advanced statistics, Fox is second on his team to Domantas Sabonis, so there's an argument to be made for Sabonis being the star of this Kings team, but when they're winning so many games, does it really matter who the star is?

#3. Ja Morant (Memphis Grizzlies):

Will Ja Morant play again this season? It honestly doesn't matter. The Grizzlies are young, so they shouldn't be worried about "losing" this season. They should only care about helping Ja control his demons and shift his focus to basketball. A basketball-focused Ja would be unbelievably scary. Imagine if Ja had the same mindset as the previously mentioned Jrue Holiday. The Grizzlies would be the undisputed best team in the league if that happened. Ja would dominate MVP voting like Nikola Jokic has been for the past three years. This is a player who might be more talented than prime Derrick Rose, and we all know how dominant Rose was at his scintillating best.

Last year, the main argument against Ja was that he had a negative Plus/Minus Net per 100 Possessions (-1.7) and that Memphis was 20-5 without him, which led many to argue that the Grizzlies were better without Morant. This year, the script has been flipped. Morant's Plus/Minus Net per 100 Possessions is really solid (+5.8), and the team is just 7-7 without him. Ja is currently ninth in points per game and fifth in assists per game. His turnover numbers are still low relative to his Usage Percentage (35.4%), which is the fourth-highest in the league. He's also fourth in Triple-Doubles, with 6.

#2. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers):

After the conclusion of the 2021-22 NBA season, I began to notice an increasingly vocal crowd of NBA supporters who claimed Lillard was "washed" and "past it", and that the Blazers should just hand the keys to Anfernee Simons. Lillard was coming off of a down year where he missed 53 games and shot 40.2% from the floor. Yes, this was a bad year for Dame and the Blazers, but you should never count the former Rookie of the Year out. Although the Blazers are quickly falling out of the Play-In Tournament race in the brutal Western Conference, you can't deny that Dame has been having an incredible season.

The team has a 5-9 record without Dame, and in a conference with so many teams trying to contend, that leaves Dame with very little margin of error when he's actually on the court. His 32.1 points a night, and 46.6% Field Goal percentage are both career highs. And who can forget his 71-point performance which equaled Donovan Mitchell from earlier in the season? Lillard has been putting up 37 PPG in his last 26 games, with great shooting splits of 49.6/39/94/6.

#1. Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors):

Despite missing 26 games and the Warriors' slow start to the season, Steph is still the best PG in the association. That is something I wouldn't have said last year, in the regular season at least (Luka Doncic was playing PG last year so I would have given the nod to him or Ja Morant). But this year, Steph has reclaimed his spot at number one. When you ask any NBA fan "Who is the best PG of the last ten years?" their answer is most likely Steph Curry. Most even consider Steph to be a top-three PG of all time. After a down year in the regular season, the reigning Finals MVP is finally playing up to his lofty standards again.

Steph is playing the most minutes per game of his career since the start of Golden State's reign of terror in 2014-15, so his numbers shouldn't be a surprise. Only LeBron James has put up more PPG than Steph's 29.6 in a season as a 34-year-old or older (Neither played enough games to qualify for the leaderboards so the official record belongs to Michael Jordan in 1997-98 with 28.7 PPG).

His percentages are still elite, as he has a True Shooting% of 66.8%, the third highest of his illustrious career. Sure, the Warriors have won 14 games without Steph this year, but eight of those wins were ugly wins where GS won by nine points or less. Steph is still the clear leader of this team and is looking to add another NBA championship to his resume.

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