{"id":2110781,"date":"2026-08-25T14:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110781"},"modified":"2026-08-25T14:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:05:07","slug":"the-bounce-where-does-jalen-brunson-rank-among-the-nbas-top-40-lead-guards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2110781","title":{"rendered":"The Bounce: Where does Jalen Brunson rank among the NBA\u2019s top 40 lead guards?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Bounce Newslette<\/b>r<\/strong>\u00a0\":basketball:\"<\/span>\u00a0| This is The Athletic\u2019s<\/em> daily NBA newsletter.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

On this date in 1965, Bill Russell completed one of the most competitive and petty deals in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain had just signed a $100,000 contract, making him the highest- paid player in basketball. The Celtics had offered Russell $75,000, and he threatened to retire unless he was paid $1 more than Wilt. So the Celtics signed him for $100,001. Incredible!<\/p>\n

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Position rankings<\/h3>\n

Top 40 lead guards for 2026-27<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are ranking the top 40 at every position in today\u2019s positionless NBA. On Friday, we went over the top 40 big men<\/a> in the NBA. In an unprecedented turn of events, nobody disagreed with the rankings. I also did not read any comments or social media replies.<\/p>\n

Today, we move on to lead guards! It\u2019s a bit of a broader term than the traditional \u201cpoint guard\u201d label.<\/p>\n

Positions can be arbitrary, and we may disagree on the idea of who is a lead guard and who isn\u2019t. But I feel pretty solid that anybody left off this list is either 1) not in the top 40 of lead guards or 2) placed correctly on the off-guard\/shooting guard list we\u2019ll see later this week (i.e., Donovan Mitchell). Like the big men on Friday, this list is divided into seven different tiers.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to it!<\/p>\n

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There isn\u2019t much change since last year, with SGA and Luka still at the top of the list. But Brunson does make it over Curry for the third spot on the list. Maybe Curry is still technically better and the shooting is always going to be a threat in a way others can\u2019t replicate. However, Brunson just led his team to the title and proved that he\u2019s in the conversation with the elite of the elite.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for Tier 2:<\/p>\n