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Greatest point guard of all time: Magic, Curry or Oscar Robertson?

30 October 2026 · NBA Players

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The point guard is the player who brings the ball up and decides what happens next. It is the position where one player can change the whole shape of a team, and it has given the NBA some of its most argued-about careers. On GOATvs there is no panel of experts: every player is picked or passed over one face-off at a time, by everyone, and the box above shows where the great point guards stand today in the world's list of the greatest NBA players of all time.

Magic Johnson is the name most people start with. He was 6 feet 9 inches tall and played like a guard, and he turned the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s into Showtime. As a rookie in the 1980 Finals he started Game 6 at center in place of the injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, scored 42 points and was named Finals MVP. He won five championships and three MVP awards, and his rivalry with Larry Bird is often credited with saving the league's popularity. In November 1991 he announced that he had HIV and retired, then came back to play for the Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics.

Oscar Robertson is the case from history. In the 1961-62 season he averaged a triple-double, double figures in points, rebounds and assists, across a whole season, something nobody else did for 55 years. He won the MVP award in 1964 and his only title in 1971 with the Milwaukee Bucks, next to a young Kareem. Off the court, the lawsuit he led as head of the players' union helped bring free agency to the NBA.

The player who finally matched that season was Russell Westbrook, who averaged a triple-double in 2016-17 and won the MVP award. He went on to do it in several more seasons and in 2021 passed Robertson for the most triple-doubles in NBA history. The question the face-off above asks is whether a record shared across two eras makes them equals.

Stephen Curry changed how the game is played. He made the long three-pointer a weapon to build an offense around, and he is the NBA's all-time leader in three-pointers made. He has won four championships with the Golden State Warriors, two MVP awards, and in 2016 he became the first unanimous MVP in the league's history. For a generation of fans, he is the reason every team now shoots from so far out.

There are other cases. Jerry West, widely accepted as the model for the NBA's logo, is still the only player named Finals MVP from a losing team, in 1969. John Stockton spent 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz and retired as the all-time leader in both assists and steals, two records that still stand, though he never won a title. Steve Nash won back-to-back MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 running the fast Phoenix Suns. Isiah Thomas led Detroit's Bad Boys to two championships, and Bob Cousy won six with the Boston Celtics.

And the newest name is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In 2025 he won the scoring title, the MVP award, the championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Finals MVP, all in one season. One season does not make a career, but the world's vote already puts him among the greats of the position.

Should a point guard be judged by titles, by records, or by how much he changed the game? Pick Magic or Curry above, settle Oscar against Westbrook, decide Curry against Gilgeous-Alexander, or see all of the greatest point guards and the whole NBA Top 100, ranked by everyone.

Vote: Magic Johnson vs Stephen Curry

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