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The NBA has seen tremendous backcourt duos with different styles of play throughout its history. There have been backcourt duos formed by a great passer and an efficient shooter which have worked tremendously, while all-shooting backcourt pairs have dominated the league, as we have seen with the Golden State Warriors.
10 greatest NBA backcourt duos of all time
Backcourt play can usually dictate the rhythm of a team's game and is an essential part of a well-oiled NBA offense.
With Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, we have seen that a team driven by a shooting backcourt pair can be successful in the NBA, while the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons also proved the same thing back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
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This article will look into the 10 greatest backcourt duos in NBA history.
Without further ado, let us start.
#10 Mark Jackson/Reggie Miller - Indiana Pacers
Mark Jackson is one of the most underrated point guards in the history of the NBA. Not being in the Hall of Fame while having dished out 10,334 assists during his 17-year NBA career is unprecedented (every other member of the 10,000 assists club is in the Hall of Fame) and should be discussed more.
On the other side, Reggie Miller is arguably the greatest shooter and one of the greatest clutch performers in NBA history. Miller carried the Indiana Pacers to 15 playoff appearances in 18 years while averaging 18 points, three rebounds, and three assists per game on 47/40/89 shooting splits.
Jackson played at Indiana for 405 games alongside Miller. In their four playoff appearances together, the Pacers always reached the Eastern Conference Finals and played in one NBA Finals (2000), though they lost to the Shaq-Kobe LA Lakers.
#9 Maurice Cheeks/Andrew Toney - Philadelphia 76ers
When the Philadelphia 76ers drafted Andrew Toney in the 1980 NBA Draft, they put together a great backcourt, with Toney joining Maurice Cheeks.
The team was coming off a defeat in the NBA Finals against Magic Johnson and the LA Lakers. In Toney's first year, they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the rookie averaging 19 points per game in the series, coming off the bench.
In 1982 and 1983, the team made it to the NBA Finals. They first lost in 1982 against LA again (Toney led the team in scoring and Cheeks in assists during the series).
Moses Malone's arrival and Toney earning a starting spot then helped the team win the NBA championship the next year, sweeping the Lakers in the NBA Finals. The duo combined for 37.3 points and 12.1 assists per game in the 1983 NBA Finals.
#8 Walt Frazier/Earl Monroe - New York Knicks
The popular New York Knicks have two NBA championships in their history, and the last one happened with their backcourt being formed by Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe.
Frazier had won the 1970 NBA championship with the team, while Monroe arrived in 1971 from the Baltimore Bullets. Though they were similar players, they were a good fit at the Big Apple.
They won the 1973 NBA championship together, with Frazier averaging 21 points, seven rebounds, and six assists per game in the regular season. Monroe played well too, averaging 16 points per game and dishing out four assists.
During the 1973 NBA Playoffs, they averaged 38 points and 9.4 assists per game as the Knicks won the 1973 NBA championship against the LA Lakers.
#7 Rajon Rondo/Ray Allen - Boston Celtics
Rajon Rondo was a young point guard when Ray Allen joined the Boston Celtics to form the team's Big-Three with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. However, Boston's backcourt proved to be solid from the start.
The team romped to a 66-16 record in the regular season, with Allen averaging 17 points, four rebounds, three assists per game and hitting 180 threes. Rondo, on the other hand, embraced his spot as a starter and averaged a solid 11 points and five assists per game.
Rondo's passing ability was a good fit with Allen. The latter would come off of screens, and Rondo would pass the ball in the perfect spot for him to shoot.
Boston went on to win the 2008 NBA championship, with Rondo being the fourth most important player of the team, behind the Big Three. Then, they played deep in the NBA Playoffs in 2010 (lost NBA Finals to the Lakers) and 2012 (lost EFC to the Miami Heat), with Rondo running the show and Allen still coming off of curls and hitting jumpers.
#6 Michael Jordan/Ron Harper - Chicago Bulls
Any backcourt pair with Michael Jordan as one half could easily be ranked in the Top 10 in NBA history.
Michael Jordan and Ron Harper formed one of the greatest backcourt duos ever. This was because Jordan was dominant on both sides while Harper was a winner and a smart player who could score with high volume (19 PPG in his first seven years in the NBA) but sacrificed a lot for his team.
The pair formed the Chicago Bulls' backcourt duo from 1995 to 1998, with the team achieving the second three-peat in franchise history. Jordan is recognized as the greatest player in the history of the NBA by many, and in those three years, he won three scoring titles, two MVPs and was also named to the All-Defense NBA teams three times.
Harper, on the other hand, was a team player who defended well against any guard, could shoot with consistency and was smart with the ball in his hands.
#5 Tony Parker/Manu Ginóbili - San Antonio Spurs
Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili were two-thirds of the most successful Big Three in the history of the NBA and the NBA Playoffs, alongside Tim Duncan. They delivered four NBA championships to the San Antonio Spurs during their tenure together.
Although Ginóbili usually didn't start games for the Spurs, he was a closer and normally found himself on the court with Parker or even controlling the team's offense.
Both had great play-making abilities, and opposing defenses had a hard time trying to keep them out of the paint.
Parker and Ginóbili are the most successful duo in the NBA Playoffs in terms of wins (132).
#4 Isiah Thomas/Joe Dumars - Detroit Pistons
The Bad Boy Detroit Pistons' backcourt was amazingly built, with Isiah Thomas controlling the offense and Joe Dumars being a solid player on both sides of the floor.
Of course, Vinnie Johnson was also a huge part of this backcourt dynamic, but Thomas and Dumars were the driving force. In fact, in the back-to-back NBA titles won by the Bad Boys in 1989 and 1990, Dumars and Thomas won Finals MVP once each.
Both players are members of the Hall of Fame and were the igniters of a team that reached three straight NBA Finals from 1988 to 1990. They beat the Boston Celtics, the Showtime LA Lakers, and Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the NBA Playoffs.
#3 Bob Cousy/Sam Jones - Boston Celtics
Bob Cousy and Sam Jones formed the most successful backcourt duo in NBA history, as the pair won five NBA championships together during their stint together (from 1957 to 1963).
In their years together, Cousy averaged 17 points, eight assists, and four rebounds per game, while Jones averaged 14 points and five rebounds per game.
Playing in an unbelievable Celtics team with Bill Russell, they won five straight championships between 1959 and 1963, when Cousy retired. Cousy had won a championship before with Boston, while Jones went on to win 10 with the Celtics.
The Celtics would rank second among NBA franchises in championships if the two players combined their titles (16).
#2 Magic Johnson/Byron Scott - Los Angeles Lakers
Magic Johnson won five NBA championships with the 1980s Showtime LA Lakers, and in three of those, Byron Scott was his backcourt partner.
Scott worked perfectly with Johnson. He took advantage of the team's fast-paced style and Johnson's court vision to score with efficiency.
They played eight years together and helped the LA Lakers win three NBA championships. They also played in six NBA Finals.
Johnson averaged 20 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds per game during his eight years playing with Scott in the LA backcourt (not including Magic's return in the 1995-96 season). Scott, on his side, averaged 16 points per game on 50/38/83 shooting splits.
#1 Stephen Curry/Klay Thompson - Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson form the greatest backcourt duo in NBA history because they are simply explosive while shooting the ball and have had great success while deploying their fast-flowing style of play.
Curry is a two-time NBA MVP winner, while Thompson is a five-time All-Star who has earned two All-NBA selections in his career. While Curry is universally recognized as the greatest shooter in NBA history, Thompson could easily be considered a Top-3 all-time shooter while being a solid defender.
Playing for the Golden State Warriors, they have won three NBA championships together and played five consecutive NBA Finals from 2015 and 2019.
Curry averages 23.5 points, seven assists, and five rebounds in his career while shooting 48/44/91 from the field, three-point line, and FT line, respectively. Thompson, on his side, is a 20-point scorer for his career on 46/42/85 shooting splits.
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