NBA Power Rankings: Top 5 shooting guards in the league right now
Shooting guards in today's NBA have become essential players for their franchises, and their impact on their teams is tremendous. Though some superstars in the shooting guard position are spot-up shooters and good defenders, there are those who control their team's offense efficiently.
NBA Power Rankings: Top 5 shooting guards in the league right now
Ranking the five-best active shooting guards in the NBA is pretty straightforward because many shooting guards are part of the supporting cast of their teams, whle others are key in offense and defense. Without further ado, let's get started.
#5 Bradley Beal
Bradley Beal finished second in points per game in the 2019-20 NBA, garnering an average of 30.5 points. He had a fabulous year, but his efforts were not enough to take the Washington Wizards to the NBA Playoffs.
His tally of 30.5 points, 6.2 assists and four rebounds per game failed to find him an NBA All-Star spot or an All-NBA selection; nevertheless, he was one of the best shooting guards in the NBA last season.
In 2018-19, Beal was arguably better than he was last season, as he averaged 26 points, six assists and five rebounds per game on 48% shooting from the field.
In Offensive Win Shares among shooting guards, Beal (4.5) only trailed James Harden and Devin Booker. Beal's 5.3 Offensive Box Plus/Minus rating ranked second among shooting guards and 11th in the NBA.
#4 Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz continues to improve year after year and has become a great NBA scorer. Mitchell showed his potential since his rookie season, and he is starting to establish himself as an elite player at his position now.
Mitchell had career-highs in points per game (24), rebounds per game (4.4), assists per game (4.3), shooting percentage (45%), three-point shooting percentage (37%) and FT percentage (86%). In Player Efficiency Rating among shooting guards, Mitchell ranked fifth (18.8).
For the first time in his NBA career, Mitchell made the All-Star game. He had an amazing performance in the first round of the Playoffs even though the Jazz lost in seven games to the Denver Nuggets. In that series, Mitchell averaged 36 points, five rebounds, five assists per game on 53% shooting from the field, 52% from three (on nine attempts per game) and a whopping 95% from the FT line.
In the first game of that series, Mitchell scored 57 points - the third-highest points scored in a single playoff game in NBA history.
He also scored 51 points in game four, becoming the fourth player in NBA history to have multiple 50-point games in the same playoff series (Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Jamal Murray being the others).