Rajon Rondo Makes Interesting Picks For Top 3 Point Guards Of All Time

Rajon Rondo has two NBA championships that entitle him to have a weighty argument in any barbershop debate. So, when Rondo gets asked to name the top five of anything, his opinion is worth a listen.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that he will conform to conventional thinking. Case in point: When his good friend Kevin Garnett asked him to identify the top five point guards of all time, Rondo could muster just three names. What’s more, one of the players he mentioned is not necessarily associated with the role of point guard.

“Um, Magic. Isiah. Third one’s, uh, I’m struggling,” Rondo said on the “KG Certified” podcast.

Garnett, getting impatient, tried to get Rondo to say Steph Curry. While Rondo acknowledged that the NBA is currently in the “Steph Curry era,” he suddenly came to a realization on the third name he wanted to say.

“Kyrie Irving,” Rondo added.

While Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas are shoo-ins on most fans’ lists of top five point guards in NBA history, Irving is a controversial pick, to say the least. Even as the point guard position has evolved into a more significant contributor on the scoring end, basketball aficionados still place a premium on playmaking when it comes to court generals. 

Throughout his 14-year NBA career, Irving has been more of a gunner than a facilitator. At his best, the one-time NBA champion is a shot-maker who literally and figuratively trips up defenders with his dazzling handles and extremely creative finishes at the rim. While Irving averages 5.6 assists per game in his career, his primary assignment has always been to get baskets for himself.

Notably, this is in sharp contrast with the playing style of Rondo, an old-school, pass-first point guard who was concerned more about making his teammates look good. When Rondo teamed up with Garnett in the late 2000s and early 2010s, he helped the Big Ticket set the tone defensively for a Celtics squad that thrived in a slower half-court tempo.

Many fans will disagree with Rondo’s selection of Irving, but none of them can discount his freedom of opinion, especially because he has two shiny rings that lend credibility to his basketball takes.