We describe point guards or primary ball handlers as players who did not play the majority of their minutes at wing or center, as listed by Basketball Reference. These are players who handle the ball frequently, have high usage rates, and contribute significantly in scoring and assisting. In the evolving positions of the NBA, some players might not be your typical point guards but serve in those roles for their teams for most of their minutes, as calculated by Basketball Reference.
Statistical Analysis
These rankings are heavily influenced by our NBA ADJeff stat, which serves as a primary guidepost. If you want the statistical rank alone for last season, you can find it at that link. However, these rankings should be more nuanced, considering factors beyond just the statistics with some history for players that are of certain prime or younger ages. For example, Ja Morant only played 9 games last year and was much worse than his previous two seasons. Trae Young, who has performed much better in the past than last year and, at his age, shouldn’t be declining. Young’s performance seems to have been affected by pairing with Dejounte Murray, which is no more. Both players should theoretically see a bump back to their previous baseline independent of each other. We factored in such situations for various players that have been better like Jaren Jackson, Jr. etc in the recent past and weren’t old enough to blame decline on age, or that overall have proven they can play better in high usage roles. These rankings will factor in those sorts of examples than just strictly one year although it is the important marker.
Let’s take a look at the best point guards and primary ball handlers in the NBA.
