LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey are the NBA's jumbo-sized points guards of the future

While the NBA as a whole has transitioned to “positionless” players, big point guards are nothing new for the league (Hello, Magic Johnson!). But both Josh Giddey and LaMelo Ball are helping to usher in a new era for the position.

Giddey and Ball both entered the NBA following the same path and the two will be inextricably linked throughout their careers because their skill sets are so similar. The duo is set to be at the forefront of the modern point guards in the NBA for the foreseeable future.

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Both players came into the league via Australia’s NBL Next Stars program, each winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award and were subsequently taken in the lottery of their NBA Drafts.

Ball is on the verge of his first All-Star selection this season, while Giddey has been handed the keys to the Thunder’s offense, praised for his poise and composure. 

Let’s take a look at how the two stack up against each other and where each of their trajectories will take them. 

Next Stars 

The comparisons between Giddey and Ball began almost immediately during Giddey’s rookie season with the Adelaide 36ers, and why not? Both were teenage point guards standing over two meters tall with exceptional court vision and high ceilings. 

Ball had just come off winning the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award, also becoming the youngest player in NBL history to record a triple-double. The Charlotte Hornets had just drafted him third overall, while Giddey was looking to follow the same path. 

Giddey’s natural feel for the game, displaying a maturity that belied his young years, was visible from the jump. Giddey’s play with the 36ers was so impressive that it prompted Australian basketball legend and former Chicago Bull, Luc Longley, to make the comparison between the two.

“I think that his court vision and his spatial awareness and his understanding of that part of the game is at the same level of this past season as LaMelo Ball,” Longley said. “At the same level or better as LaMelo Ball was when he was in the NBL.” 

Even though Ball only played 12 games in the NBL before shutting it down to prepare for the NBA Draft, the numbers between the point guards’ rookie seasons are comparable. 

After one season, Giddey, too, would win the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award and eventually be drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. 

NBA Ready 

Ball and Giddey both have similar playstyles, although Ball may be a bit more refined as an offensive option than Giddey at this stage of their careers. 

Through 32 games this season, Ball is averaging 19.2 points, 7.7 assists and 7.3 rebounds, while Giddey is averaging 11.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.3 assists. 

It’s more than just numbers, though, when trying to compare the games of these two. It’s also how they accrue these stats. 

While Ball is infinitely more explosive than Giddey, both are the engines to their team’s respective offenses. Ball and Giddey have a unique body type and playing style, kind of like the prototypical forward in today’s NBA, except that they are point guards. 

They can virtually do it all for the team, even if they play as defacto point-forwards due to their size. 

Both of these guys have the advantage of height and are blessed with natural point guard instincts of making others around them better. While Ball has proven himself to be a consistent scorer in the league, Giddey is still working on that part of his game. 

Being 6-foot-8 gives both Ball and Giddey a size advantage over most of their defenders in isolation plays and works in their favor when required to switch as well. Anyone who expected Ball to be a negative on the defensive end must be impressed by now with his more than adequate defense. So far in 2021-22, Ball is using his length on defense to his advantage, averaging 1.6 steals per game – good for eighth in the league, tied with Fred VanVleet. 

Their court sense, passing ability and creativity make them both tough players to cover, and they’re walking triple-double threats in every game they play.

Big Point Guards 

There’s been a few big point guards in the past – the aforementioned Magic Johnson, Penny Hardaway and even Shaun Livingston – have all been guys who have been 6-foot-7 or taller that have played the vast majority of their careers as point guards.

You could probably pinpoint the shift towards a bigger point guard around 2013 when Michael Carter Williams (6-foot-5) was drafted 11th overall and went on to win Rookie of the Year honors.

This was followed by guys like Dante Exum, D’Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, and of course, Ben Simmons, all being drafted in the lottery by teams. Most of those guys are around 6-foot-5, with the exception of Simmons, who was 6-foot-9 when he was drafted and now stands in at 6-foot-10. 

Luka Doncic (6-foot-7) was drafted in 2018, and by the time of the 2021 NBA Draft, at least five lottery picks were all “tall” point guards, headlined by Ball in 2020, and then Cade Cunningham and Giddey last year. 

So why is there a shift to bigger point guards in recent years? 

In the NBA, height is strongly preferred, and as the league has moved to a more positionless style of game, teams have prioritized taller players who have a diverse skill set and can defend multiple positions over smaller guys who may get exposed on one side of the court.

“Basketball is becoming more position-less and more about team basketball,” says Drew Hanlen, NBA skills coach and consultant. “Players that can guard multiple positions on defense and stretch the floor and play within a free-flowing system on offense are highly valuable in today’s game.” 

Point guards with all-around skills will continue to thrive because of the spacing that playing in the NBA provides.

Big point guards are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey are proof of that notion.

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