Ranking the 10 best NBA shooting guards who were selected in the NBA Draft from 2014 through 2023.
In the last 10 years, the talent pool around the NBA has begun to burst at the seams with players at every position who have elevated their games to rank among the best in the league. One position that has seen an impressive collection of players rise to the top is the shooting guard position featuring stars such as Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Donovan Mitchell, and more.
Just as we took a look at the point guard position recently and the best players to be drafted in the last 10 years, it is time to take a deeper look at the shooting guards who continue to showcase their contributions to today’s game.
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1. Devin Booker
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While there have been a few shooting guards who have an argument for the top spot on this list, none of them have surpassed Devin Booker. Taken with the 13th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Booker has steadily become the top dog at the shooting guard position in the NBA over the last nine seasons.
By his second season in the NBA in 2016-17, Booker was already a 22.0 points per game scorer in the NBA, finishing in the top 10 for Most Improved Player. By 2018-19, he would already be considered a top player at his position and a budding superstar. Showcasing his dominant mid-range offense and playmaking abilities, Booker has been an NBA All-Star in four of the last five seasons between 2020 and 2024.
Since 2020, Booker has averaged 26.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game on 48.5% shooting from the field. Along with his four All-Star selections, he helped lead the Phoenix Suns to an NBA Finals appearance in 2021 as well as an All-NBA First Team selection in 2021-22. In 2023-24, through 45 games played, Booker was once again an All-Star averaging 27.5 points and a career-high 7.0 assists per game as the Suns sit 32-22 and sixth in the West.
2. Donovan Mitchell
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Not far behind Booker’s place atop this list is seven-year shooting guard Donovan Mitchell. Since 2018, Mitchell has ascended to star status in the NBA with his incredible athleticism and remarkable offensive output. After a close second-place finish to Ben Simmons for Rookie of the Year in 2018, Mitchell has made his mark on not one, but two NBA franchises.
In his first five seasons with the Utah Jazz from 2018 to 2022, Mitchell averaged 23.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on 44/36/83 shooting splits. He earned three All-Star selections during that time while also making the Jazz a playoff team year after year. After being traded to the Cavaliers before the 2022-23 season, Mitchell’s status as a star in the league has only risen.
In 112 games with Cleveland, Mitchell has taken over as the clear No. 1 option, averaging 28.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game on 48/37/86 shooting splits. In 2023, Mitchell earned yet another All-Star selection along with an All-NBA Second Team selection and a sixth-place MVP finish. He has followed that up with another All-Star performance in 2023-24 while leading the Cavs to a 36-17 record and a second-place spot in the East through 53 games.
3. Anthony Edwards
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In just his fourth season in 2023-24, I am comfortable with putting Anthony Edwards as the third-best shooting guard drafted in the last 10 years. Other than being wildly athletic and one of the most exciting young players, Edwards has shown tremendous growth and maturity as a player and as a leader for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Since being drafted first overall in 2020, Edwards has made a steady climb to his spot on this list. In his first two seasons with Minnesota, he averaged 20.3 three points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per game on 42.9% shooting. In his last two All-Star seasons in 2023 and 2024, he is averaging 25.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game on 46.3% shooting.
Individually, Edwards is continuing to improve drastically but more importantly, his team is succeeding as well. The Timberwolves advanced to the NBA playoffs in 2022 and 2023 and in 2024, they sit at 39-16 and first in the Western Conference through 55 games. The effect Edwards has had on the franchise in such a short amount of time cannot be ignored.
4. Zach LaVine
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If this list had been made just a few seasons ago, Zach LaVine would be challenging Devin Booker for the top spot. Drafted 13th overall in 2014 by the Minnesota Timberwolves, LaVine has been up and down the NBA shooting guard rankings for the last 10 seasons. First introduced as one of the game’s best dunkers while in Minnesota, LaVine showed why he should be considered far more than that.
LaVine spent the first three seasons of his career in Minnesota where he averaged just 13.7 points per game on 44.5% shooting. LaVine was then traded to the Bulls in 2017 for Jimmy Butler, dealt the chance to become a franchise player in Chicago. For the last seven seasons, LaVine has averaged 24.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game for the Bulls with two All-Star selections.
Despite LaVine’s clear status as one of the game’s top shooting guards, the Bulls never advanced to the NBA playoffs until LaVine got a worthy running partner in DeMar DeRozan. That certainly affects his position on today’s list. The All-Star selections and clear individual talent keep him in the top five as well.
5. Tyler Herro
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Although probably unexpected, the presence of Tyler Herro as a top-five shooting guard drafted since 2014 is completely warranted. As the 13th overall pick of the Miami Heat in 2019, Herro has exceeded expectations exponentially since making his NBA debut, making the most of his time within the historic organization known to build champions.
Herro’s first two seasons were as solid as they come, averaging 14.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game on 43.4% shooting and 37.5% shooting from three. This included an epic playoff run that Herro helped Miami reach the NBA Finals averaging 16.0 points per game. In his third season in 2022, he would take a step up, becoming the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year with 20.7 points per game on 44/39/87 shooting splits.
In the last two seasons, Herro has solidified himself as a starter with Miami, averaging 20.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game with slightly elevated efficiency. Trade rumors and injuries have hindered his contributions in the playoffs but he continues to prove he is among the best players at his position over the last few seasons.
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Taken with the 16th pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, Terry Rozier comes in at No. 6 on our list. After two seasons of limited time, Rozier eventually found himself at the center of an Eastern Conference Finals run with Boston in 2018 in which he averaged 16.5 points per game on 40.6% shooting.
In 2019, after four seasons with the Celtics, Rozier was traded to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Kemba Walker. From there, he flourished with the Hornets. Despite no playoff berths on a team level, Rozier was averaging 20.0 points, 4.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 43.6% in four-plus years with the team.
In 2023-24, Rozier would be traded to the Miami Heat where he has averaged 12.6 points and 5.6 assists per game in 10 contests. If the Heat remain in the playoff hunt, Rozier could see postseason play for the first time since 2019 with the Celtics.
7. RJ Barrett
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Although he is just in his sixth season in 2023-24, RJ Barrett has done enough to find his way into the top 10 shooting guards to be drafted in the last 10 years. Barrett spent the first four and half seasons in the NBA with the team that drafted him, the New York Knicks, where he averaged 18.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 42.2% shooting.
In addition to his four above-average seasons in New York, he also helped them make two playoff appearances where he averaged 17.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 16 games played. In 2023-24, Barrett was traded to the Toronto Raptors where he has taken on a bigger role. Through 19 starts, he has averaged 20.5 points per game on 54.9% shooting with the team going 6-13 in those games.
8. Jordan Clarkson
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Another former Sixth Man of the Year falls into our top 10 of shooting guards drafted in the last 10 seasons. Jordan Clarkson was taken in the second round of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards before being dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers. For the first three-plus seasons of his career, he went through some growing pains in purple and gold before landing in Cleveland with the Cavaliers.
Over the next two-plus seasons, Clarkson became an elite bench player, averaging 15.5 points per game on 44.8% shooting. When he landed with the Jazz in 2019-20, things began to take off for him individually. In his first full season with Utah in 2021, Clarkson was named the Sixth Man of the Year with 18.4 points per game on 42.5% shooting.
Since that time, Clarkson has spent time both off the bench and as a starter with Utah. He is still among the most offensively gifted shooting guards in 2023-24, averaging 17.3 points per game on 41.5% shooting mostly in a bench role once again for the 26-30 Jazz.
9. Buddy Hield
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Back in 2016, Buddy Hield set the NCAA on fire with his three-point shooting and offensive explosions during March Madness. This led to a sixth overall selection by the New Orleans Pelicans in the 2016 NBA Draft. By the trade deadline, Hield was made expendable and traded to the Kings in the deal that involved DeMarcus Cousins.
In the next eight-plus seasons, Hield would elevate his game with Sacramento and Indiana, consistently finding himself atop the NBA’s ranks in total made threes, averaging 16.6 points per game on 43.6% shooting from beyond the arc. Hield has yet to advance to the NBA playoffs in his career but has shown why he is considered one of the best shooting guards in the NBA since 2017. Hield is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and through four games is averaging 22.3 points per game on 52.3% shooting overall and 45.0% from three.
10. Jordan Poole
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Of all the players on today’s list, only one of them played a significant role in a championship run in the NBA and that is Jordan Poole, formerly of the Golden State Warriors and currently with the Washington Wizards. Although Poole has been the butt of jokes in his first season in Washington in 2023-24, the contributions he made for four years in Golden State will be remembered forever.
Poole was the 28th pick of the Warriors in the 2019 NBA Draft. He would have a stint in the NBA’s G-League before returning to the roster as a different player for the 2021-22 season. That year, Poole helped the Warriors both as a starter and off the bench with 18.5 points per game on 45/36/92 shooting splits. In the playoffs, Poole would elevate his game with 17.0 points per game on 50.8% shooting overall and 39.1% from three to help the Warriors capture their first title since 2018.
In 2023-24, after being traded to the Wizards following a rough end to his days in Golden State, Poole has struggled to adjust to his new home. Through 52 games, he is averaging just 15.6 points per game on 40.0% shooting and 30.3% shooting from beyond the arc. At just 24 years old, he has plenty of time to continue to mature and improve on his play but his contributions to a championship-winning team earn him top 10 honors.
