Ranking NBA starting point guards — 15. De’Aaron Fox, Kings
It has been a brutal season for De’Aaron Fox, the captain of a sinking ship. His individual numbers are down and the Kings still can’t win enough games to keep the public’s attention. He could get traded soon. There’s certainly buzz around him. Don’t get is twisted, though — Fox remains one hell of a player, with a bright future in Sacramento, Philadelphia, or wherever else he ends up playing.
For the season, the struggling Fox is contributing 20.7 points and 5.1 assists on .450/.247/.750 splits. That is decidedly not bad, even if the lack of jump shooting touch is still a stain on his resumé. Fox has dealt with some turnover issues too, but with the team around him in perpetual disarray, it’s hard to expect Fox to shine every night.
Ranking NBA starting point guards — 14. Mike Conley, Jazz
The Jazz are the NBA’s most vanilla contender, so it can be easy to overlook just how good the individual components of the wider mechanism are. Mike Conley is not quite the same Mike Conley from back in Memphis, but he’s not far off. His numbers don’t stack up to his peers on paper — 14.0 points, 5.4 assists — but such is life in Utah.
Conley’s supreme efficiency is a better indicator of his value. He’s shooting 46.3 percent from the field and 42.4 percent from deep, with the same pick-and-roll mastery and feather-soft floater that made him so dominant once upon a time in Memphis. He gets to take a back seat to Donovan Mitchell, but Conley made his first All-Star team last season for good reason. He still has it.
Ranking NBA starting point guards — 13. Fred VanVleet, Raptors
Fred VanVleet’s 2022 coming out party has been a long time coming. With Kyle Lowry gone and a new chapter underway in Toronto, VanVleet is starting to look like the ringleader of that next generation. His remarkable blend of confidence and control is the stuff of stars. He just does not get flustered.
That is nothing new of course. VanVleet has been clutch since before he even reached the league, and his excellent season — 22.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists, .442/.409/.892 — is deservedly getting All-Star buzz. He has a real case to start with how the standings look. Give him his flowers.