NBA: The Best Point Guards for the 2016-17 season

3. Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers

CP3’s consistency is matched by only a few players in history. And one of them happens to be Magic Johnson. Paul came out of Wake Forest in 2005, peaked in 2007-08, and has been a top-three point guard ever since. He’s the last of the “true” point guard, but his play has adapted and Paul can go bucket-for-bucket with the association’s best PGs.

Even with being placed on a team with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, Paul has steadily held up and remained a 19-point, 10-assist guy and developed a reliable outside game to counteract the inside presence of Blake and DJ. The percentages are about the same (37 in LA, 35.9 in NOLA), but CP3 has made 494 threes in five seasons with LA, compared to 379 in six years with New Orleans. From mid-range, Paul is still effective as ever and orchestrates the ball screen better than any player in basketball.

CP is one of the few guards in today’s NBA who isn’t hyper-athletic, but his handle is up there with Curry’s and Kyrie’s and he’s still taking ankles at 31 years old. Furthermore, he matches up with the young guys just fine, and he remains the NBA’s best defensive point guard.

Next: No. 2