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The second decade of the millennium is about two weeks away from its end. It has brought us many great moments in the history of NBA basketball both collective and individual. The Toronto Raptors won their first NBA title in 2019. The Miami Heat spent four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014 competing for and winning two consecutive NBA titles.
The Cleveland Cavaliers did the same thing from 2015 to 2018 but won the title only once. The common denominator between the Heat and Cavaliers was LeBron James appearing in eight consecutive NBA Finals and winning three.
The Golden State Warriors squared off against LeBron and the Cavaliers in four consecutive NBA Finals winning three. They appeared in five straight Finals winning three of the five from 2015 to 2019.
The 2010s have been a decade where superstar players have led dynasties to multiple NBA Finals and in some cases, multiple NBA Championships. At the forefront of some of these teams have been the shooting guards, tasked with the responsibility of getting buckets in the clutch. Here is a look at the five greatest shooting guards in the last decade:
#5 Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant has been retired since April 13th, 2016. On that day, Kobe sent a message that he was still one of the greats of the game. "The Black Mamba", on that day, delivered one of the most outstanding games of his career. Bryant scored 60 points on 22-50 shooting from the floor and went 10-12 from the free-throw line in a 101-96 Los Angeles Lakers victory over the Utah Jazz.
Kobe's decade started not only with an NBA Championship in June 2010 but also with the Finals MVP Award. Bryant was also an NBA All-Star for 18 years including 17 straight selections from 2000 to 2016.
Since the beginning of the 2010 season till his retirement, Kobe had 7,853 points and that tally would have been higher had he not sat out major parts of the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons due to an Achilles tendon injury which ultimately led to his 2016 retirement. During the period beginning at the end of the 2009-10 season and the end of the 2012-13 season, Bryant averaged 26.9 points per game.
The Los Angeles Lakers have employed the talents of great players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O'Neal but Kobe Bryant stands out even amongst all that greatness. His early retirement and injury troubles prevented his name from appearing higher on this list.
#4 DeMar DeRozan
The Toronto Raptors drafted DeMar DeRozan 9th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft. Since then, DeRozan got better and better every season becoming the Raptors' franchise player. Along with point guard Kyle Lowry and center Jonas Valanciunas, he led a Raptors team to five consecutive playoff appearances before he was traded for Kawhi Leonard.
Under DeRozan’s scoring prowess, the Toronto Raptors won over 50 regular-season games from 2015 to 2017. DeRozan also represented the Toronto Raptors in the All-Star Weekend festivities four times in 2014 and from 2016 to 2018.
For several seasons, the discussion of best backcourt duos centered around pairings of Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, Bradley Beal and John Wall, and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
In a decade in which the three-point shot became a focal point of offensive schemes, DeRozan has amassed 14,782 points (including games up to Friday, December 13th, 2019) with a career 28.4 percentage shooting the three. DeRozan has been a mid-range scoring master his entire career.
Currently, with the Spurs, DeRozan has a career scoring average of 19.9 points a game and his highest average was 27.3 points a game in the 2016-17 season as a Raptor.
#3 Dwyane Wade
Dwyane Wade was drafted back third overall in 2003 by the Miami Heat. In what was a strong draft class, Dwyane Wade stands out in a draft class that also stars LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Carmelo Anthony. LeBron may be the better player overall but the Miami Heat’s shooting guard was the first of the 2003 draft to win an NBA Title in 2006. Wade did so as the undisputed star of the team.
He did have an aging Shaquille O’Neal to share the burden but the Heat was Wade’s team to carry. He averaged 27.2 points, 6.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game that season. He also upped his scoring average to 28.4 points and 2.2 steals per game during the Championship run.
Wade, affectionately known as “Flash”, was not done winning titles as he benefited from LeBron James and Chris Bosh joining him in 2010. The Heat made four consecutive Finals and won two of them, taking Wade's tally of NBA's rings to three.
Since the 2010-11 season, Wade amassed 11,198 regular-season points playing for the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers and eventually returned to Miami. He retired there at the end of last season. Dwyane Wade is a sure-fire future NBA Hall of Fame inductee.
#2 James Harden
James Harden is a perennial All-Star and league MVP. He was drafted third overall in 2009 by the Oklahoma City Thunder. After three seasons in 2012, combined with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, the Thunder competed against the LeBron James led Miami Heat in the 2012 NBA Finals where they lost four games to one.
Partly due to cost and that he and Russell Westbrook are ball-dominant guards, the Thunder traded Harden to the Houston Rockets where he has blossomed into an undisputed superstar of basketball.
He was named league MVP in 2018. Last season, he was beaten out for the award by Giannis Antetokounmpo, but Harden set a record of scoring 30 or more points in 32 consecutive games. This season, Harden is once again in a backcourt pairing with Russell Westbrook and is still raising the level of his play.
He is averaging 39.3 points, 7.5 assists, and 5.9 rebounds a game. Harden also contributes two steals a game at the defensive end. He does shoot a lot averaging over 24 shots a game but his percentages are 36.4 from the three-point arc and 44.3 from the field overall for his career.
#1 Klay Thompson
Klay Thompson is likely to miss the 2019-20 season due to an ACL injury he suffered during the 2019 NBA Finals where the Golden State Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors in six games. Already plagued by numerous injuries, it was believed Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry would have been enough star power to handle the Toronto Raptors. It wasn't meant to be.
Klay Thompson is without a doubt the best shooting guard of this quickly expiring decade. The Golden State Warriors drafted him 11th overall in 2011 and the results in the past eight seasons have been outstanding.
In a 2018 victory for the Warriors over the Chicago Bulls, Klay Thompson scored a total of 52 points and he was also red hot from three-point range making 14 threes. It is an NBA record for most threes in a single game. Further, Thompson is 16th in NBA's all-time list for 3-pointers made, recording 1,798 of the same for his career so far.
It’s not just the volume. Klay can make threes efficiently as well, as he shoots them at 41.5 percent for his career, but he has a quick release. He also has an unlimited range. He has appeared in the last five NBA Finals with his Warriors teammates and is a three-time NBA Champion.
Thompson was also a member of the Warriors squad that won 73 games in the 2015-16 season. Anyone looking to craft a fantasy roster has to think Klay Thompson at the shooting guard as he is one of the most clutch shooters in the game these past 10 years.
The 2018 Western Conference Finals is a great illustration of this. The Warriors were trailing the Houston Rockets three games to two in the Western Conference Finals in Game 6. Even worse, they were down 17 points at the half. Thompson simply scored 26 second-half points, 33 from three-point range, and 41 overall, to lift the Warriors to a 115-86 victory. The Warriors would win Game 7 to make the NBA Finals and eventually went on to win their second straight NBA Title.
Also read: 5 Greatest point guards of the 2010s
