CLIP: Ranking the Top 5 NBA Point Guards in 2026

**Wes Goldberg** (0:00)
We're trying to rank the top five players at each position. This is not easy in part because I think it's hard to define each position and which player falls into what bucket. So we were all kind of going back and forth on the group chat before we even started doing this on Wednesday afternoon and thinking like, all right, do we just do traditional positions? Do we kind of go more of like the ball handle or wing center type of thing? Do we just kind of call these guys big men? We went back and forth. We ultimately decided, let's just play the straight, the five positions straight up and we're going to just try to do our best to put players into these categories understanding that it might not be an exact science here. But let's just, let's get right into it. Let's start with point guard and kind of work our way down from there.
I don't know that there's going to be a whole lot of disagreement with the number one point guard. We're also going to try to come to a consensus at the top five at each position. So Mike, who did you have number one for point guard?

**Mike Shearer** (0:55)
I appreciate the easy one. The first one is Shea Gilder's Alexander for me and I suspect for you guys as well.
Not much else needs to be said. He's the MVP. He's it for a reason. He will probably, you know, he's still in the peak of his prime. There's no reason to think that he's ever going to be worse than this going into the next year or two.

**Wes Goldberg** (1:12)
Mo, any disagreement here?

**Mo Dakhil** (1:15)
De'Aaron Fox.

**Wes Goldberg** (1:16)
Very good.

**Mo Dakhil** (1:18)
No, no, it's SGA. Like, I don't think there's any way to really kind of argue it in any way, shape or form. He's been the best point guard for the past few years at this point right now. And I think it's pretty easy. And I mean, I don't even know if he'll change much next year.

**Wes Goldberg** (1:34)
I don't think it will.
Look, we could have done a top five in the NBA and we could at least maybe at that point, we debate SGA at number one, but not here. Can I just give you guys what I think is my top five and then maybe we just run off that list because I do think that this position is a little chalky?

**Mo Dakhil** (1:54)
I think we're going to have some similarities. I might have one or two surprises.

**Mike Shearer** (1:57)
You think so? This is the second hardest one for me after Powerhorn.

**Wes Goldberg** (2:01)
Yeah.
Okay. Well, I'm going to tell you where I landed. I want SGA, Luka, Brunson, Halliburton, Cunningham. Where am I wrong?

**Mo Dakhil** (2:10)
I have Curry over Cunningham, but I have everybody else in that order. I had Curry over Cunningham, and I think it was more just me paying homage to Curry than anything else. I think Cunningham is not quite there at the top five yet to me.

**Wes Goldberg** (2:30)
Mike, if I know anything about you, you got Cade higher than both of us.

**Mike Shearer** (2:35)
You got me pegged, my man. I got him three. I have him, and then I have Brunson, and then I have Halliburton, and Curry fifth and sixth.
I think that this is somewhat of a nod to expecting a little bit of decline for Curry. This is somewhat of a hope that Halliburton is going to bounce back to form. For me, I try to put a lot of weight in like what would these guys look like in an equal environment? They're not playing in equal environments. This requires some artistic liberties on my side, let's call it. But I'm like, nobody works in a worse ecosystem than Cade Cunningham, offensively at least. His second best ball handler for most of last year was Jaden Ivy, who promptly got traded, got injured and got bounced from the league basically immediately. There's nobody there to take any pressure off him. There's very little shooting around him. I think he's the best defender by far of all these other guys that we're talking about. I think that's the case for me at number three for Cade. I started with Curry. Interestingly, he's still the guy that estimated plus minus likes the best going forward, thinks he's going to be the third best point guard, I should say. I think he's lost a lot on the defensive end.
The shot's always going to be there. He's always going to be super impactful for a seven game series. You do worry a little bit with his age about what the hell it's going to look like over an 82 game regular season. I don't remember if you said this off the top, Wes, but one of our criteria was we're picking and ranking guys based on what they will do for the upcoming regular season and playoffs. For me, I acknowledge that Curry's peak is probably as high as any of these guys, maybe even higher. But I do worry about the rigor of a full regular season.