It hasn’t been long since we ranked our all-time NBA point guards by category for you. With the response to that being as great as it was, we couldn’t wait to get the next position out to you to enjoy as you sip your morning coffee or unwind from a long workday.
- Best – Michael Jordan
- Scoring – Michael Jordan
- Playmaking – James Harden
- Rebounding – Kobe Bryant
- 3-Point Shooting – Klay Thompson
- Mid-Range Shooting – Michael Jordan
- Passing – James Harden
- Defense – Michael Jordan
- Finishing – Michael Jordan
- Athleticism – Michael Jordan
- Clutch – Michael Jordan
- Efficiency – Michael Jordan
- Leadership – Michael Jordan
- Versatility – Michael Jordan
- Ball Handling – Allen Iverson
With point guards in the rearview, we now focus on the shooting guard position. Some of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball, including the greatest player in NBA history, called the shooting guard spot their primary position. Speaking of Michael Jordan, I forewarn you that if you are not a fan of his, this article may not be the one for you.
Just as we did with point guards, we have selected 15 categories to assign to one shooting guard throughout history as the very best in that particular category. Every aspect of offense and defense will be covered, as well as the best overall shooting guard in NBA history, which we can all conclude who that will be in the end. Not every category will be filled by the same two players, though, as there are some outliers when it comes to the position, but let’s get into it.
These are the greatest shooting guards in NBA history by category.
Best – Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan kicks off this list to the surprise of absolutely nobody reading this right now. Jordan redefined what greatness meant during his 15-year NBA career, the greatest career in the history of the sport.
Michael Jordan didn’t just ascend to greatness in an instant. It took years of losing to the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons in the playoffs before he reached that level. Once he did, he could not be stopped. He dominated the league like no other on his way to 10 scoring titles, five MVP awards, six NBA championships, and six Finals MVP awards, among a whole lot more individual and team accomplishments.
Michael Jordan did not only become the greatest shooting guard in NBA history in 13 seasons in Chicago, but he became a global icon, a symbol for an entire generation of basketball fans. Any impact you think your favorite player had on the game, Jordan’s was greater. When your legacy is still intact 30 years later, that legacy will forever remain untarnished and solidifies you as the greatest to ever do it.
Scoring – Michael Jordan
Yeah, this will get a little redundant, but we are sure you understand. Michael Jordan, much like the best overall category, is not only the greatest scoring shooting guard but the greatest overall scorer in NBA history. Let’s start with his NBA record 10 scoring titles that mostly came from dominating the mid-range and attacking the rim.
Jordan won the first seven scoring titles of his career, all consecutively from 1987 through 1993. After two years of retirement, he returned to win three more consecutively from 1996 through 1998. Then, we can take a look at his NBA record 30.1 PPG career scoring average, further adding to his case as the GOAT scorer. If that isn’t enough, Jordan also holds the highest playoff scoring average with a 33.4 PPG career average.
There will inevitably be those that say, “Well, he hogged the ball and took so many shots”. Those people are uninformed and lost in delusion. Michael Jordan shot over 50.0% from the field six different times in his career and shot below 45.0% just twice, both in his Wizards seasons at 39 and 40 years old. If I have a ball hog of that caliber on my team, he can take all the shots he wants.
Playmaking – James Harden
Now, there are a few different ways we can go with the playmaking category. Remember, playmaking is the art of getting both yourself and your teammates involved in a highly efficient way, leading to success and victory for your team as a whole. Passing is a part of playmaking, scoring and creating are also a part of it.
For those reasons, the playmaking category has to go to James Harden. Harden is a three-time scoring champ as well as a two-time assists champ in his career. At his peak, Harden was an MVP who won three consecutive scoring titles from 2018 through 2020 with the Rockets. He has also dished out 7.0 APG or more every season since 2015 and has dished out 10.0 APG or more in four different seasons. His 7.01 APG ranks 27th in NBA history, and his 7,015 total assists rank 20th in NBA history.
Rebounding – Kobe Bryant
The ongoing debate rages between the people that tend to side with per-game statistics or accumulative statistics and which one holds more weight in a debate between players. When it comes to rebounds, only two shooting guards come to mind and that is Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan when it comes to rebounding the basketball.
I say those two simply because both were rebounding machines when it came to shooting guards during the dog days of the NBA when it was all big men and frontcourts dominating the glass. Kobe Bryant is our selection today for his fearlessness in rebounding the ball during a physically exhausting era on the interior.
Bryant has the most rebounds in NBA history by a shooting guard with 6,800, which is nearly 1,000 more than Michael Jordan had in his career. Jordan averaged 6.3 RPG to Bryant’s 5.3 RPG, but 1.0 RPG is not enough for me to switch the choice for this category. If I needed a rebound from a guard, I would be happy with either of these two players being the ones chasing after it. However, I like Kobe just a bit more in this case.
3-Point Shooting – Klay Thompson
One of the more important skills of a shooting guard is the ability to score and shoot the ball from anywhere on the court. In today’s game, nothing is more prevalent offensively than the ability to knock down the three-point shot. When it comes to shooting guards, there have been names like Miller and Allen who have held the three-point crown at one point, but neither did it with more volume or efficiency, or more success than Klay Thompson has.
Thompson made his NBA debut with the Warriors in 2011-12 and, over the last 12 seasons, has become one of the greatest three-point shooters in NBA history, forming the greatest shooting duo in NBA history with his teammate Stephen Curry. Thompson has played a major part in four NBA championships won by the Warriors since 2015, as he has been a career 41.6% shooter from deep on an average of 7.4 attempts per game.
Since 2015, Thompson has averaged 7.0 three-point attempts or more per game every season and has connected on 41.8% of those shots. He has recorded seven seasons with 200 or more three-pointers made and, in 2022-23, led the NBA with 301 three-pointers made on 41.2% shooting. Klay has proven to be a clutch shooter on numerous occasions and an assassin both off the dribble and in catch-and-shoot spots.
Mid-Range Shooting – Michael Jordan
Any logical basketball fan has three names that come to mind when it comes to the best mid-range shooters in NBA history. Two of those players are shooting guards, and the other is Kevin Durant which is a story for another day. Those two shooting guards are Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, whose mid-range games nearly mirrored each other with how easy they made it look to create and make shots regularly.
In this case, we have to go with the GOAT, Michael Jordan, for the best mid-range shooting guard by a slight margin. At his best, Jordan was guaranteed to shoot anywhere from 49.0 to 55.0% from 10-16 feet out, where he feasted on opponents nightly. His signature fadeaway was one of the most unstoppable signature moves in NBA history, right up there with the Skyhook and Dream Shake. Among guards, Jordan also boasted the best footwork with immaculate movement that had a purpose to every stride.
Passing – James Harden
James Harden makes his second appearance on this list as the greatest passing shooting guard in NBA history. Along with being among one of the best scorers at his peak, Harden is also a former MVP because of what he did for his teammates as well.
When it comes to cumulative totals, James Harden ranks third in total assists by a shooting guard with 5,522 career assists. His 6.6 APG is first among shooting guards in NBA history as well. Harden’s playmaking and passing reached another level during his career when he was traded to the Rockets in 2012. Since that first season with Houston, Harden has not averaged below 6.0 APG in a season and hasn’t averaged less than 7.0 APG since 2014. He was an assists champion in 2017 with Houston averaging 11.2 APG and again in 2022-23 with the Sixers averaging 10.7 APG. He has had eight seasons with 500 or more assists and led the NBA in 2017 with 907 total assists.
Defense – Michael Jordan
Once again, this category comes down to the Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant debate. Defense is something that both players took pride in and is a major factor in their legacies as two of the greatest players in NBA history. In this case, Michael Jordan once again separates himself from Bryant as a defender for a few major reasons.
First, each player has nine All-Defensive First Team selections meaning they were both seen as the best defender at their position for the same number of seasons. Jordan also took his defense to astronomical levels at his peak. In 1987 and 1988, Jordan recorded back-to-back seasons of over 200 steals and over 100 blocks in the same season. Kobe Bryant never had a season with 200 steals or 100 blocks once. Jordan was also a three-time steals champ with a 2.3 SPG career average. In 1988, he was awarded the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year averaging 3.2 SPG and 1.6 BPG on the season in one of the greatest defensive seasons in NBA history.
Look, I wouldn’t be upset if Kobe Bryant was someone’s choice for this category, but peak for peak as far as on-ball pressure and off-ball instincts go, Michael Jordan is the choice for me every time.
Finishing – Michael Jordan
As redundant as it is, it remains the truth that Michael Jordan did all of these things at such an elite level, he remains the only choice for most categories on our list today. One of the categories that come with absolutely no dispute is finishing. Now, if finishing were just dunks and pageantry, then Vince Carter would probably be our choice here no question. However, when you account for elusiveness, creativity, athleticism, dunks, touch around the rim, and everything that comes with finishing, His Airness reigns supreme once again.
Throughout his career, Jordan defied the laws of physics on more than one occasion to captivate the minds of millions of basketball fans across the world. There’s a reason that more people tuned into his NBA Finals games than any other in NBA history. The numbers back him up on this too. In his career, Jordan finished over 65.0% of his shots from 0-3 feet, using his creative fakes, footwork, speed, and strength to make even the most difficult finishes look routine.
Athleticism – Michael Jordan
No disrespect to all of the greats who played shooting guard with superior athleticism to their competition during their time on the court. Guys like David Thompson, Clyde Drexler, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, and others come to mind when I think of athletic shooting guards. Those thoughts also quickly fade as I snap back to reality and remember that Michael Jordan exists.
As a kid growing up, there was nothing like being able to watch Michael Jordan play basketball. This was mostly because you just never knew what was going to happen, but you always knew it was going to be some sort of amazing physical feat. I remember never being able to tell where he was going to take off from for a dunk on a fast break or what he was going to do in the air. I remember him being able to leap to ridiculous heights and hang in the air as if he was being held from the ceiling with wire, only to finish with a softly-kissed layup off the backboard. It was incredible, and I have still seen nothing like it in my 25 years as a basketball fan, at least not to the levels Jordan reached.
Clutch – Michael Jordan
What can I say? The man has the GOAT resume for a reason. Michael Jordan’s prime as a player with the Chicago Bulls completely defines what it means to be a clutch player. From 1988 through 1998, Jordan was a five-time MVP, six-time NBA champion, six-time Finals MVP, and recorded legendary moment after legendary moment with clutch defensive plays and game-winning shots aplenty.
If leading your team to two NBA three-peats and becoming the greatest playoff performer in NBA history isn’t clutch, then we define the word differently. In six NBA championship runs, Jordan was the best player on the court night in and night out for the Bulls as they made history with two different three-peats as well. Defenses couldn’t stop him with the game on the line and offenses feared his presence on the defensive side of the ball.
Even Jordan’s final plays in Chicago define his career as a clutch player. With a defensive strip of Karl Malone and a mid-range jumper over Bryon Russell, Jordan sealed his sixth NBA championship, sixth Finals MVP, and second three-peat. His nine career buzzer-beaters, another NBA record, are just the icing on the cake for the most clutch shooting guard in NBA history.
Efficiency – Michael Jordan
No matter how you wish to define efficiency, Michael Jordan takes another category on this list. As previously mentioned when it comes to his shooting, Jordan shot above 50.0% from the field six times during his 15-year career with the Bulls and Wizards. He also recorded four seasons with a true shooting percentage over 60.0%, making him one of the most efficient players overall in the NBA at the time.
Jordan also holds the NBA record for the highest PER, or Player Efficiency Rating, with a rating of 27.9. Jordan led the NBA in PER every season from 1987 through 1993 and recorded six seasons with a PER over 29.0, meaning they were all-time great seasons. When it comes to efficiency offensively, Michael Jordan was second to none among any shooting guards or players in NBA history.
Leadership – Michael Jordan
Teammates and rivals alike have gone on record to talk about Michael Jordan’s leadership and how he was almost a tyrant during his peak with the Chicago Bulls. Whether you agree with his methods of pushing players to the brink of insanity with his unquenchable thirst to win or not, you have to admit it worked.
Sure, the stories of punching Steve Kerr in the face aren’t a good look nor the way he pushed Scott Burrell at times, either. Does anyone think Jordan pushes his team in that matter if it didn’t get the results it did, though? Yeah, me neither. Jordan knew what it was going to take from him and all he wanted to do was make sure you were holding up to your end of the deal. It resulted in some of the greatest regular seasons and six NBA championships, so how can anybody question Jordan’s leadership?
Versatility – Michael Jordan
Versatility is another term in basketball that can have more than one meaning. Are you a versatile defender who can shut down many positions? Are you a versatile scorer who can take over games from all three levels? Can you do a bit of everything to help your team win? These are the things that make up a versatile player at least in my eyes.
As far as shooting guards go, Michael Jordan is the most versatile player available. As a defender, scorer, playmaker, or passer, Jordan could take over a game at the flip of a switch. No player during the 1990s defined what it meant to be a Swiss Army Knife quite like him. He excelled on both sides of the ball as a former five-time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, nine-time All-Defensive First Team member, and most importantly, a six-time NBA champion and Finals MVP. Versatility isn’t more clear than that.
Ball Handling – Allen Iverson
Phew, I am just relieved to be able to talk about a player other than Michael Jordan for a second. Ball handling is one of the most important skills in a guard’s arsenal due to the high volume of shots they will create, and the different defensive looks they will see. Guards have to be creative in their ways of getting around these defenses, whether that be in a scoring or playmaking role.
As far as that definition is concerned, Allen Iverson is the only selection for this category. Even 20 years after gracing the court at his peak, Iverson’s influence is still prevalent in the game today. Iverson had the allure of a streetball player with his style of dribbling and ankle-snatching crossovers mixed with the scoring ability that is needed to be elite at the NBA level. Iverson’s handles are only rivaled by those of Kyrie Irving throughout NBA history in terms of style, speed, control, and flawless finishing on top of it.
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