Top 5 NBA sophomore seasons by a point guard in the 21st century
LaMelo Ball started off the 2021-22 NBA season with tremendous performances, picking where he left off after his rookie year ended in the 2021 Play-In tournament. Likewise, the 2019-20 Rookie of the Year, Ja Morant, also had a brilliant sophomore season for his team last year. That is exactly what Ball will be looking to emulate in the current NBA season.
Zion Williamson gave the New Orleans Pelicans an All-Star-caliber season as a sophomore. He is expected to remain a dominant performer for years to come, despite some health concerns. However, this article will take a look at point guards who were impressive during their sophomore campaign in the NBA.
Five best sophomore seasons from an NBA point guard in the 21st century
Superstars of the past have led their teams to NBA championships and have won MVP trophies and other big accolades in their sophomore campaign in the league. Among point guards, Oscar Robertson had one of the most impressive sophomore seasons ever, as he averaged a triple-double for the entire campaign in 1961-62.
Another point guard, like Magic Johnson, guided his team to an NBA title and won the NBA Finals MVP as a rookie, but that's probably never happening again. Today's era has seen some great point guards start their careers and impact the game positively, and they are finding consistency as their careers go on.
This article, however, will look back and give you the top five sophomore seasons from a point guard in the NBA in the 21st century.
Without further ado, let us take a look.
#5 Ben Simmons
Regardless of what the current state of Ben Simmons' NBA career is, he certainly made a huge entrance into the NBA. Of course, his rookie year was his second season in the league, but he had missed his entire campaign due to injury.
In his sophomore season, Simmons became an All-Star after winning the Rookie of the Year and he helped the Philadelphia 76ers reach the second round of the NBA Playoffs in the 2018-19 campaign.
Simmons averaged 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game during his second NBA season, and had 10 triple-doubles.
#4 Chris Paul
Chris Paul is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, and his supreme talent to run the position started to show quite early in the league. Paul won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in his first campaign, but he backed it up with a nice sophomore campaign.
The future Hall-of-Famer put up 17.3 points, 8.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore for the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets in the 2006-07 season.
Paul was just a season away from finishing in the Top 5 in the NBA MVP voting, but he was certainly great in his sophomore campaign.
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