Best Duos in the NBA

[Goldstar88]

-Donovan Mitchell & Gobert I'd consider, but apparently that's not the best duo on their own team by the numbers??  I guess those numbers could be deceiving though and this duo warrants consideration.

Mitchell and Gobert were good, 1058 min / +280, but this was 10th best on the team if ranked by total +/-.  Per 36 they were 5th best of pairs with over 1000 min (per 36 get distorted if the sample size is too small).

On Utah, it is Gobert who really drove the best pairs, not the other half, which I found interesting.  Many of the best pairs were driven by one more than the other.  It was surprising to me that it was Conley and not Mitchell that formed the other half of Utah's best pair.

Well, Conley was in the All Star game for a reason. He had a really good season. Many Utah fans will claim that he in fact was better last season than Mitchell. Actually a lot of advanced stats favor Conley in that regard. A bit of a surprise he still had it in him. Like Paul who was written off in Houston.

He made it as an alternate because Booker was injured. And I believe Booker made it in as an alternate for someone else.

Jayson and Jaylen made the all star team the old fashioned way.

[gouki88]

TP VG.

It's interesting to see offense and defense pairings.

My top 5 would be

Kawhi + PG
Jokic + Murray
KD + Harden
LeBron + Davis
Giannis + Holiday

Think these pairings are all tied because of health. The healthiest pairing is probably the best.

Next 5
Gorbert + Mitchell
Butler + Bam
Young + Collins
Brown + Tatum
Green + Curry

All these are pretty much same class. They are just below the first 5.

Last 5 worth mentioning
Booker + Ayton
Lillard + McCollum
Zion + Ingram
Brooks + Ja
Embiid + Simmons


Biggest thing I noticed from doing this list is Luka needs a legit running mate. If he had one no way is he all the out the top 15.

Porzingis averaged 20.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg last year.  I'm not sure how more legit you are going to find than that.

Getting on the court would be one way

He played more games than Durant, Davis, Harden (in BKN, same general range overall) and in the same general range as James and was within 5 games of Murray, McCollum, and 10 games of Embiid, Kawhi, Butler. 

He has certainly missed a lot of time over the years, but certainly not much different than a lot of stars last year.

And none of those stars have played less than him over the last 3 seasons. All of those guys had injured years, sure. For Kristaps it's a routine. The most games he played was as a rookie.

He's also gotten hurt in consecutive playoffs

He wasn't hurt in the playoffs this year.  He finished the year healthy playing big minutes in all 7 Dallas playoff games.  As to your other point, he missed the 2018-19 season entirely, that will skew the numbers, just like it would for say Durant.  That said, he has obviously played more games than Durant over the last 2 years, but also played more games than Davis and just 2 less than Embiid the last 2 as well.  There is no question he is injury prone, but he performs on the court quite well despite not getting along with Luka nor being a great fit with Luka on the floor.  He also just turned 26.   

I thought he was. That was my justification for him playing so terribly. If he was uninjured putting up 13/5 then that is even more [dang]ing!

yeah on Luka who refused to pass him the ball.  His USG was 16.4 in the playoffs that is awful (10% lower than the regular season), but he doesn't bring the ball up the court so he has to have others pass it to him and Luka froze him out.  Maybe if Luka got the Zinger involved, they wouldn't have choked away the series.

Ah yes, it was the guy who averaged 36/10/8 on good efficiency who lost them the series, not the 7'3 guy on a max contract averaging 13/5 and making 8/27 three point attempts.

You can't seriously be trying to say that. It's beyond ludicrous to imply that Porzingis' numbers were only down because he was being "frozen out". Is that why his rebounding dropped? Is that why he couldn't buy a three pointer despite taking 4 a game?

He didn't shoot great obviously at 30% from 3, but he did have the same TS% as Luka in the series, who had a USG over 40, while Porzingis fell to a 16.2 USG.  There were countless articles about how Luka was freezing him out, how they can't stand each other, etc.  The problem with Dallas isn't that Porzingis isn't good enough, it is that Porzingis and Doncic don't get along and don't fit well on the court.  Doncic is the better player, so a team will always pick him, but Doncic clearly has had maturity issues based on all of the reporting out of Dallas.  He is already an epic diva that will only get more diva like moving forward.  Immense talent on the court, but seemingly an immense problem off it.

Lol. "Immense problem" off-court. You and your hilarious hills to die on.

Why wasn't Doncic freezing out Hardaway? Because Hardaway didn't suck

Porzingis is a garbage #2. The more you try and defend him the more outlandish your position seems. You're defending a guy who can't rebound or stay on the floor.

[Moranis]

TP VG.

It's interesting to see offense and defense pairings.

My top 5 would be

Kawhi + PG
Jokic + Murray
KD + Harden
LeBron + Davis
Giannis + Holiday

Think these pairings are all tied because of health. The healthiest pairing is probably the best.

Next 5
Gorbert + Mitchell
Butler + Bam
Young + Collins
Brown + Tatum
Green + Curry

All these are pretty much same class. They are just below the first 5.

Last 5 worth mentioning
Booker + Ayton
Lillard + McCollum
Zion + Ingram
Brooks + Ja
Embiid + Simmons


Biggest thing I noticed from doing this list is Luka needs a legit running mate. If he had one no way is he all the out the top 15.

Porzingis averaged 20.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg last year.  I'm not sure how more legit you are going to find than that.

Getting on the court would be one way

He played more games than Durant, Davis, Harden (in BKN, same general range overall) and in the same general range as James and was within 5 games of Murray, McCollum, and 10 games of Embiid, Kawhi, Butler. 

He has certainly missed a lot of time over the years, but certainly not much different than a lot of stars last year.

And none of those stars have played less than him over the last 3 seasons. All of those guys had injured years, sure. For Kristaps it's a routine. The most games he played was as a rookie.

He's also gotten hurt in consecutive playoffs

He wasn't hurt in the playoffs this year.  He finished the year healthy playing big minutes in all 7 Dallas playoff games.  As to your other point, he missed the 2018-19 season entirely, that will skew the numbers, just like it would for say Durant.  That said, he has obviously played more games than Durant over the last 2 years, but also played more games than Davis and just 2 less than Embiid the last 2 as well.  There is no question he is injury prone, but he performs on the court quite well despite not getting along with Luka nor being a great fit with Luka on the floor.  He also just turned 26.   

I thought he was. That was my justification for him playing so terribly. If he was uninjured putting up 13/5 then that is even more [dang]ing!

yeah on Luka who refused to pass him the ball.  His USG was 16.4 in the playoffs that is awful (10% lower than the regular season), but he doesn't bring the ball up the court so he has to have others pass it to him and Luka froze him out.  Maybe if Luka got the Zinger involved, they wouldn't have choked away the series.

Ah yes, it was the guy who averaged 36/10/8 on good efficiency who lost them the series, not the 7'3 guy on a max contract averaging 13/5 and making 8/27 three point attempts.

You can't seriously be trying to say that. It's beyond ludicrous to imply that Porzingis' numbers were only down because he was being "frozen out". Is that why his rebounding dropped? Is that why he couldn't buy a three pointer despite taking 4 a game?

He didn't shoot great obviously at 30% from 3, but he did have the same TS% as Luka in the series, who had a USG over 40, while Porzingis fell to a 16.2 USG.  There were countless articles about how Luka was freezing him out, how they can't stand each other, etc.  The problem with Dallas isn't that Porzingis isn't good enough, it is that Porzingis and Doncic don't get along and don't fit well on the court.  Doncic is the better player, so a team will always pick him, but Doncic clearly has had maturity issues based on all of the reporting out of Dallas.  He is already an epic diva that will only get more diva like moving forward.  Immense talent on the court, but seemingly an immense problem off it.

Lol. "Immense problem" off-court. You and your hilarious hills to die on.

Why wasn't Doncic freezing out Hardaway? Because Hardaway didn't suck

Porzingis is a garbage #2. The more you try and defend him the more outlandish your position seems. You're defending a guy who can't rebound or stay on the floor.

In Dallas, he has averaged 20.3 ppg and 9.2 rpg while blocking 1.7 shots a game.  He doesn't turn the ball over much and has eFG% of 52.2 and a TS% of 56.4%, so good shooting efficiency.  He is injury prone, no question, but most certainly isn't garbage.  He is not however a good fit with Doncic.  They don't play well with each other and still despite that he is over 20 and 9 per game.  The Zinger can still play. 

[Goldstar88]

1. KD/Harden
2. Lebron/AD
3. Giannis/Middleton
4. Steph/Klay
5. Kawhi/George
6. Jokic/Murray
7. Jayson/Jaylen
8. Lillard/McCollum
9. Doncic/Porzingis
10. Bam/Butler

Best duo under 25 years of age...JT and JB 

[Csfan1984]

TP VG.

It's interesting to see offense and defense pairings.

My top 5 would be

Kawhi + PG
Jokic + Murray
KD + Harden
LeBron + Davis
Giannis + Holiday

Think these pairings are all tied because of health. The healthiest pairing is probably the best.

Next 5
Gorbert + Mitchell
Butler + Bam
Young + Collins
Brown + Tatum
Green + Curry

All these are pretty much same class. They are just below the first 5.

Last 5 worth mentioning
Booker + Ayton
Lillard + McCollum
Zion + Ingram
Brooks + Ja
Embiid + Simmons


Biggest thing I noticed from doing this list is Luka needs a legit running mate. If he had one no way is he all the out the top 15.

Porzingis averaged 20.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg last year.  I'm not sure how more legit you are going to find than that.

Getting on the court would be one way

He played more games than Durant, Davis, Harden (in BKN, same general range overall) and in the same general range as James and was within 5 games of Murray, McCollum, and 10 games of Embiid, Kawhi, Butler. 

He has certainly missed a lot of time over the years, but certainly not much different than a lot of stars last year.

And none of those stars have played less than him over the last 3 seasons. All of those guys had injured years, sure. For Kristaps it's a routine. The most games he played was as a rookie.

He's also gotten hurt in consecutive playoffs

He wasn't hurt in the playoffs this year.  He finished the year healthy playing big minutes in all 7 Dallas playoff games.  As to your other point, he missed the 2018-19 season entirely, that will skew the numbers, just like it would for say Durant.  That said, he has obviously played more games than Durant over the last 2 years, but also played more games than Davis and just 2 less than Embiid the last 2 as well.  There is no question he is injury prone, but he performs on the court quite well despite not getting along with Luka nor being a great fit with Luka on the floor.  He also just turned 26.   

I thought he was. That was my justification for him playing so terribly. If he was uninjured putting up 13/5 then that is even more [dang]ing!

yeah on Luka who refused to pass him the ball.  His USG was 16.4 in the playoffs that is awful (10% lower than the regular season), but he doesn't bring the ball up the court so he has to have others pass it to him and Luka froze him out.  Maybe if Luka got the Zinger involved, they wouldn't have choked away the series.

Ah yes, it was the guy who averaged 36/10/8 on good efficiency who lost them the series, not the 7'3 guy on a max contract averaging 13/5 and making 8/27 three point attempts.

You can't seriously be trying to say that. It's beyond ludicrous to imply that Porzingis' numbers were only down because he was being "frozen out". Is that why his rebounding dropped? Is that why he couldn't buy a three pointer despite taking 4 a game?

He didn't shoot great obviously at 30% from 3, but he did have the same TS% as Luka in the series, who had a USG over 40, while Porzingis fell to a 16.2 USG.  There were countless articles about how Luka was freezing him out, how they can't stand each other, etc.  The problem with Dallas isn't that Porzingis isn't good enough, it is that Porzingis and Doncic don't get along and don't fit well on the court.  Doncic is the better player, so a team will always pick him, but Doncic clearly has had maturity issues based on all of the reporting out of Dallas.  He is already an epic diva that will only get more diva like moving forward.  Immense talent on the court, but seemingly an immense problem off it.

Lol. "Immense problem" off-court. You and your hilarious hills to die on.

Why wasn't Doncic freezing out Hardaway? Because Hardaway didn't suck

Porzingis is a garbage #2. The more you try and defend him the more outlandish your position seems. You're defending a guy who can't rebound or stay on the floor.

In Dallas, he has averaged 20.3 ppg and 9.2 rpg while blocking 1.7 shots a game.  He doesn't turn the ball over much and has eFG% of 52.2 and a TS% of 56.4%, so good shooting efficiency.  He is injury prone, no question, but most certainly isn't garbage.  He is not however a good fit with Doncic.  They don't play well with each other and still despite that he is over 20 and 9 per game.  The Zinger can still play.

That's why I said Luka needs a better run mate to make the list. I actually feel Porzingis is a good third guy on a team like a Ewing, Bosh or even Ray Allen that you  let them have their plays to score. But they probably won't be setup guys that enhance/playmake for others. You still take him as a third star. I'd take him here over Al but I don't think others on here would because of the injuries and defense.

[boscel33]

What do you think the top 10 duos are in the NBA? (two best players on a given team) Feel like the first two are obvious, but after that... not so clear. Curious to see what people think and where the Jaylen/Jayson tandem fit in.

1. KD/Harden
2. Lebron/AD
3. ?
4. ??
5.

1. KD/Harden
2. Lebron/AD
3. Kawhi/George
4. Tatum/Brown
5. Giannis/Middleton

[Moranis]

TP VG.

It's interesting to see offense and defense pairings.

My top 5 would be

Kawhi + PG
Jokic + Murray
KD + Harden
LeBron + Davis
Giannis + Holiday

Think these pairings are all tied because of health. The healthiest pairing is probably the best.

Next 5
Gorbert + Mitchell
Butler + Bam
Young + Collins
Brown + Tatum
Green + Curry

All these are pretty much same class. They are just below the first 5.

Last 5 worth mentioning
Booker + Ayton
Lillard + McCollum
Zion + Ingram
Brooks + Ja
Embiid + Simmons


Biggest thing I noticed from doing this list is Luka needs a legit running mate. If he had one no way is he all the out the top 15.

Porzingis averaged 20.1 ppg and 8.9 rpg last year.  I'm not sure how more legit you are going to find than that.

Getting on the court would be one way

He played more games than Durant, Davis, Harden (in BKN, same general range overall) and in the same general range as James and was within 5 games of Murray, McCollum, and 10 games of Embiid, Kawhi, Butler. 

He has certainly missed a lot of time over the years, but certainly not much different than a lot of stars last year.

And none of those stars have played less than him over the last 3 seasons. All of those guys had injured years, sure. For Kristaps it's a routine. The most games he played was as a rookie.

He's also gotten hurt in consecutive playoffs

He wasn't hurt in the playoffs this year.  He finished the year healthy playing big minutes in all 7 Dallas playoff games.  As to your other point, he missed the 2018-19 season entirely, that will skew the numbers, just like it would for say Durant.  That said, he has obviously played more games than Durant over the last 2 years, but also played more games than Davis and just 2 less than Embiid the last 2 as well.  There is no question he is injury prone, but he performs on the court quite well despite not getting along with Luka nor being a great fit with Luka on the floor.  He also just turned 26.   

I thought he was. That was my justification for him playing so terribly. If he was uninjured putting up 13/5 then that is even more [dang]ing!

yeah on Luka who refused to pass him the ball.  His USG was 16.4 in the playoffs that is awful (10% lower than the regular season), but he doesn't bring the ball up the court so he has to have others pass it to him and Luka froze him out.  Maybe if Luka got the Zinger involved, they wouldn't have choked away the series.

Ah yes, it was the guy who averaged 36/10/8 on good efficiency who lost them the series, not the 7'3 guy on a max contract averaging 13/5 and making 8/27 three point attempts.

You can't seriously be trying to say that. It's beyond ludicrous to imply that Porzingis' numbers were only down because he was being "frozen out". Is that why his rebounding dropped? Is that why he couldn't buy a three pointer despite taking 4 a game?

He didn't shoot great obviously at 30% from 3, but he did have the same TS% as Luka in the series, who had a USG over 40, while Porzingis fell to a 16.2 USG.  There were countless articles about how Luka was freezing him out, how they can't stand each other, etc.  The problem with Dallas isn't that Porzingis isn't good enough, it is that Porzingis and Doncic don't get along and don't fit well on the court.  Doncic is the better player, so a team will always pick him, but Doncic clearly has had maturity issues based on all of the reporting out of Dallas.  He is already an epic diva that will only get more diva like moving forward.  Immense talent on the court, but seemingly an immense problem off it.

Lol. "Immense problem" off-court. You and your hilarious hills to die on.

Why wasn't Doncic freezing out Hardaway? Because Hardaway didn't suck

Porzingis is a garbage #2. The more you try and defend him the more outlandish your position seems. You're defending a guy who can't rebound or stay on the floor.

In Dallas, he has averaged 20.3 ppg and 9.2 rpg while blocking 1.7 shots a game.  He doesn't turn the ball over much and has eFG% of 52.2 and a TS% of 56.4%, so good shooting efficiency.  He is injury prone, no question, but most certainly isn't garbage.  He is not however a good fit with Doncic.  They don't play well with each other and still despite that he is over 20 and 9 per game.  The Zinger can still play.

That's why I said Luka needs a better run mate to make the list. I actually feel Porzingis is a good third guy on a team like a Ewing, Bosh or even Ray Allen that you  let them have their plays to score. But they probably won't be setup guys that enhance/playmake for others. You still take him as a third star. I'd take him here over Al but I don't think others on here would because of the injuries and defense.

I think he'd fit pretty well with Tatum actually.  Just different skill sets.  I think a lot of the fit issues in Dallas is that Luka and Kristaps just don't like each other.  If you don't like your teammate, it makes it harder to make it work.  Just human nature.

[Vermont Green]

Doncic and Porzingis should be a good pair when you consider some of the other top pairs per the +/- comparison.  They clearly did not play as a top pair last season.  I think it is due to shortcomings in both players.  Doncic is still young and Porzingis has been hurt a lot.  That pair should be able to do more than they have done.  For example, they should be able to be as good as Collins + Young or Randle + Barrett (I see I had a typo in my original posts on the NYK pair).

As to Porzingis specifically, he is certainly not going to be the big part of a top pair like Gobert, Giannis, Jokic, Embiid,... but I think he is still a good player.  As someone said, maybe more of a good third to add to Tatum and Brown.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

Lebron and AD over KD and Harden. AD has had injury concerns, but its not like KD hasn't missed time.

Lebron and KD are almost a push. I'd rather have AD over Harden.