Top Five Point Guards in NBA History
Best Point Guards in NBA History: Number 3
Oscar Robertson, Cincinnati Royals, Milwaukee Bucks (1960 – 1974)
“The Big O” is a legend whose greatness is often trivialized into one fun statistic. In 1962, he averaged over 30 points per game, while also averaging over 12 rebounds and 11 assists. This was the first and only time anyone in NBA history averaged a triple double until Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder duplicated the feat in 2017. Unlike Oscar Robertson, Westbrook was awarded the league MVP for his exploits. While Robertson was always recognized for his greatness, it seems as if others were always given the lime light instead of him.
Part of the reason Robertson’s greatness is universally as recognized as it should be is because he played in such an unbelievable era. Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, John Havliceck, and Red Auerbach were laying the foundation for the Celtics dynasty in Boston. Wilt Chamberlain was becoming the legendary “Big Dipper” in Philadelphia, while Jerry West and Elgin Baylor were making the Los Angeles Lakers the biggest attraction on the West Coast.
Nonetheless, many of Robertson’s contemporaries considered him to be the best all around player of their generation. When Robertson was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, joining a superstar out of UCLA by the name of Lew Alcindor, the team became the best in the league and marched all the way to the 1971 NBA Championship. Alcindor would eventually change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and become a Laker legend; however, it was Oscar Robertson who served as the Bucks floor general and directed traffic during their championship run.
Although others may have received top billing during his era, knowledgeable fans know that Oscar Roberson was the best point guard of his era, and one of the greatest of all-time.