In a league that constantly emphasizes star power, NBA duos have become the ultimate measuring stick of success. It’s no longer enough to have just one star on your team; with the development of modern NBA defense, where teams now have the capability to completely eliminate one player from the game, the quality of a team’s secondary offensive options can make or break their championship aspirations. Look at recent history to see this trend in the NBA: Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown or Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. All this being said, who have been the five best duos so far this NBA season?
Top Five Duos in the NBA So Far This season
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
There are a couple of other pairings in the league that compete with the Boston Celtics’s duo statistically, but those pairings’ impact on winning basketball games does not come close to the best two players of the reigning NBA champions. Tatum and Brown are co-captaining a 13-3 Celtics team that just handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their first loss and are dominating the competition with arguably their third-best player, Kristaps Porzingis, out with injury. The two are both averaging north of 25 points per game, Tatum at 29.1, and are leading the third-best offense and eighth-best defense in the NBA. Tatum has been an MVP candidate so far this season and the Celtics certainly have the star power to win another championship.
Anthony Davis and LeBron James
Number two on this list may seem a tad high, but James and Davis’ production, specifically on the offensive end, warrants this ranking. Davis is averaging the second most points per game in the NBA, at 31.3, and James is averaging 24 points along with over nine assists and eight rebounds. The Los Angeles Lakers currently have the fourth-best offense in the NBA, which has helped them get off to a 10-5 start, occupying the fourth seed in a very competitive Western Conference. Although the Lakers’ defense hasn’t been great at times, in part because of the questionable effort by the aging James, this duo’s dominance on offense and proven ability to win games gives them the number two spot.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard
The Milwaukee Bucks’ duo’s claim to fame is their statistical dominance. Together, Antetokounmpo and Lillard are averaging a league-high 57.2 points per game and have looked utterly unstoppable at times. The Bucks have won five of their last six games, and Antetokounmpo is once again a leader of the MVP race. All of this sounds good, yet the Bucks are 7-9. Lillard has struggled to shoot the ball early on, and the Bucks’ depth has been incredibly lackluster. The Bucks have a below-average offense, the 15th-ranked defense, and, as I said above, are below .500. Antetokounmpo and Lillard need to continue to play at an extremely high level so the Bucks can fully right the ship.
Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns
Karl-Anthony Towns has been a perfect fit for the New York Knicks’ offense so far this season. He is averaging 26.8 points per game, which would be a career-high, shooting 50% from three, and is the leading scorer of the second-best offense in the NBA. His partner in crime, Brunson, has also been good, averaging over 25 points per game and a career-high 7.3 assists. The Knicks’ new duo’s dynamicness is on full display in the pick-and-roll game, where they rank first in effectiveness with 1.25 points per pick. The only downfall of this duo, and one of the reasons the Knicks are only 9-6, are the defensive limitations that Brunson and Towns present; so far, the Knicks are the 21st-ranked defense in the NBA. The Knicks need their elite wing defenders, especially Mikal Bridges, to play like elite wing defenders so that their dominant offensive duo can focus on lighting up the boxscore.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams may not have the name recognition that some of the other guys on this list do, but their impact on one of the best teams in the NBA has been obvious. Gilgeous-Alexander is currently an MVP favorite, averaging almost 29 points per game, along with over five rebounds and six assists, and Williams has been an elite secondary option, averaging almost 22 points on over 50% shooting from the field. This duo has helped the Oklahoma City Thunder get off to a 12-4 start despite numerous injuries, and unlike many other pairings on this list, Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams can do it on the defensive end as well. Both Thunder players rank in the top ten in the league in individual defensive win shares, top twenty in NBA.com’s player estimate evaluation tool, and are staples of the best defense in the league. The Thunder’s young duo is rapidly improving and should skyrocket up this list over the next few years.
Honorable Mentions: The Injured Suns, Doncic’s Dallas, and the MVP
Kevin Durant’s injury has resulted in the Suns falling off a cliff, losing six of their last seven, as Devin Booker’s heroics have not been enough to carry Phoenix. If Durant had stayed healthy, he and Booker probably would have made the top five. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are putting up stats in Dallas, but Doncic has to be more efficient, and the Mavericks have to start winning more games. Although, Dallas has won their past four and seem to be figuring some things out. In Denver, Nikola Jokic is putting together a historic start to the season, averaging a 30-point triple-double, but the Nuggets are still waiting for Jamal Murray to fully find his footing. If Murray can return to the level he was at two years ago, the Nuggets will once again be serious contenders.
In the modern NBA, the most important aspect of a winning team is their depth; it’s no longer a successful strategy to be completely reliant on one star player. The quality of one’s second and third options is what separates the contenders from the pretenders, and as the season progresses we will be able to make these distinctions more easily.
Main Image: © Peter Casey-Imagn Images
