5. Steve Nash
Nash put together some of the best point guard play of all time in the NBA. He was a 29 year old free agent, who was a big part of some good Dallas teams. He wanted to be paid as such, but the Mavericks had other ideas and he ended up signing with the Suns. Nash was unleashed with the Suns and head coach Mike D'Antoni. The Suns the previous year had won only 29 games with Stephon Marbury as their point guard. Nash's first year ended with the Suns going 62-20. They made it to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost to the Spurs, but on the way they beat Nash's former team. That season Steve Nash would win the first of his back to back MVP Awards. He finished in the top ten of MVP voting six times and showed the difference that a great point guard could make. Nash could've put up more points, but his game was getting his teammates involved and he was a great teammate. Nash was an out of this world shooter and routinely shot over 40% from three. He goes down in history as one of the best point guards ever and someone that paved the way for players like Stephen Curry. He is also one of the funniest players of all time.
4. Isiah Thomas
The leader of the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons was one of the best point guards to ever play. He was also Michael Jordan's nemesis. Thomas is remembered for those Pistons teams, his testy relationship with Michael Jordan, and his leading of the walkout by the Detroit Pistons at the end of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. Just a year before, Thomas had won the Finals MVP award in leading the Pistons to their second championship in a row. Thomas and the Pistons had fought so hard to become champions and were not ready to give it up so they walked out. Despite those instances, Thomas had some amazing moments as a player including how he was willing to lay it all out on the line for his team. In the 1988 Finals that the Pistons would go on to lose, Thomas sprained his ankle badly and stayed in the game putting together an incredible performance. This is a long clip, but worth the watch. This is the stuff that made Thomas so great. He was 1st team All-NBA three times and finished in the top 10 in MVP voting four times. Thomas was a truly special player.
3. Stephen Curry
This is going to be a controversial one. Let me explain. What Stephen Curry has done these last three seasons is unprecedented in the league. He turned into the most dominant offensive weapon that the league may have ever seen. You can argue about Jordan and Kareem, but Curry is the only player that you have to guard everywhere on the court. No other player opens up so much else for his teammates, a big reason for the Warriors success. Curry is not like other point guards that get other teammates involved before looking for their shot, he is a green light player. However, he is different from point guards like Russell Westbrook. Curry understands that he can force up bad shots every now and then, but he is one of the most unselfish superstars the league has ever seen. No other player would transition as smoothly as Curry did welcoming a player like Kevin Durant onto the Warriors. Curry is all about winning and he is only going to get better. You know his resume, two time MVP and the only unanimous MVP. The thing that cracks me up is that players like to go after Curry and say all kinds of things, but those players would not know what to do with Stephen Curry and Curry's Warriors in my opinion destroy any other team in history, I do not care who it is.
2. Jason Kidd
Kidd put together everything you wanted from a point guard in the 90's and 00's. He was a great defender and he got his teammates involved. Jason Kidd in his prime was a one man wrecking crew on the court and had the power to transform teams. In 2001, Kidd was traded to the New Jersey Nets for Stephon Marbury. The Nets had won 26 games the previous year and ended up winning 52 games that year on their way to the first of two straight trips to the Finals. Kidd was able to make everyone around him better. Kidd even reinvented himself later in his career. All throughout his career, the joke was that his name should be Ason Kidd because he had no J. He went to Dallas and became a facilitator of the offense and a spot up shooter in addition to providing some steady veteran defense. He captured a title with the old manniest old man team ever, the 2011 Dallas Mavericks. Looking back on Kidd's career, he was just such an amazing player to watch. He could pass, rebound, defend, and on occasion he could put up some points, but the important thing is that he made his teammates better like all great point guards do.
1. Magic Johnson
Hopefully, there was no doubt that it was going to be Magic as number one. If you do not know about Magic Johnson, then take an hour out of your life and go to youtube. Magic Johnson is one of my favorite all time players because he wanted to win and used his teammates to help him win by getting them good shots. He had the ability to score and he did that in big moments when it was needed, but some of the passes that this guy made as a 6'9 point guard were out of this world. He won a championship with Michigan State in 1979 and won another a year later as a professional for the Los Angeles Lakers when he put up a ridiculous game to clinch the title in 1980. He would go on to war with Larry Bird for league supremacy during the 1980's going to the Finals numerous times. When it was all said and done, Magic had five championships and had re-defined what it meant to play basketball. He was a three time Finals MVP and league MVP. He made All-NBA 1st team nine times and finished in the top 10 for MVP voting ten times. Magic is without a doubt one of the greatest players to ever play and is the best point guard to ever play.