Which Guard is Most Athletic Between These Guys

[mdonnelly1989]

A Combination of All Of these

Explosive power: the capacity to generate force instantly—think vertical leap, broad jump, and that first violent push when sprinting or taking off.

Speed: raw straight-line velocity plus how quickly an athlete accelerates to top gear and brakes back to zero.

Agility: rapid, efficient changes of direction that blend footwork, body lean, and momentum control into one fluid move.

Strength: both absolute (how much total force the body can produce) and relative (how strong that force is per pound of body mass), including the ability to absorb impact.

Endurance: the mix of anaerobic “repeat-sprint” capacity and aerobic base that lets an athlete sustain bursts, recover, and keep output high late in games.

Mobility and flexibility: usable joint range and tissue elasticity that allow long, powerful strides, deep cuts, and safe landings without energy leaks.

Balance and stability: the neuromuscular control to stay centered on one foot, through contact, or while twisting in mid-air.
Coordination: seamless timing between limbs and senses—hand-eye, foot-eye, and full-body sequencing—so complex actions look effortless.

Spatial-kinesthetic awareness: an internal GPS that tracks body position, opponents, and boundaries, enabling mid-air adjustments and tight-space creativity.

Reaction and processing speed: how fast the nervous system registers a cue, chooses an option, and executes a movement—even when fatigued or under pressure.

[JimmyPlopper]

1. Iverson
2. Francis
3. Wade
4. Morant
5. Wall

[SHAQ32]

Baron Davis is checking all those boxes and at 6'3, 215 trumps in size and strength. Never seen a point guard finish through contact like him. A good "what if" is him never tearing his ACL at UCLA. Was that athletic after the injury but just imagine if it never happened. Would've been a monster.

[mdonnelly1989]

The Poll results are crazy. So far, 6 of the 10 have at least one vote already. This will be interesting to see who wins this... and how the rankings look...

[JimmyPlopper]

The Poll results are crazy. So far, 6 of the 10 have at least one vote already. This will be interesting to see who wins this... and how the rankings look...

Athleticism is always hard to define- even when someone provides us with the definition. I suspect that among the participants, Kobe will probably remain a laggard as he was not athletically superior as a means to his greatness. He was athletically excellent for sure, but not in that upper echelon to be an all time superlative

[Chokic]

Vertical/explosiveness
1. Morant
2. Carter
3. Francis
4. JRich
5. Iverson

Speed
1. Wall
2. Morant
3. Iverson
4. Wade
5. Davis

Agility
1. Iverson
2. Morant
3. Wall
4. Wade
5. Francis

Strength
1. Carter
2. Davis
3. Wade
4. Kobe
5. Jrich

Endurance
1. Iverson
2. Kobe
3. Wade
4. ?
5. ?

Mobility/flexibility
1. Iverson
2. Morant
3. Kobe
4. Wade
5. Carter


Balance stability
1. Kobe
2. Carter
3. Wade
4. Iverson
5. Morant


Overall
1. Iverson
2. Morant
3. Vince
4. Wade
5. Kobe

[bkkrh]

Simply can´t pick any player over someone that did this.

Watch on YouTube

[Black Jack]

Baron Davis is checking all those boxes and at 6'3, 215 trumps in size and strength. Never seen a point guard finish through contact like him. A good "what if" is him never tearing his ACL at UCLA. Was that athletic after the injury but just imagine if it never happened. Would've been a monster.

I had a good seat at a Cal Ucla game and I remember seeing him take off from the ft line on a breakaway dunk. Pre injury Baron was definitely a top level athlete.

That said I vote Wade for best overall guard athlete including hops, shiftiness, strength etc.

[NO-KG-AI]

Wade has 152 dunks in a season, more than anyone here. He had 5 seasons over 100 dunks, which is more than the rest of this entire list combined. He’s getting to the rim and finishing at the rack more than triple the rate of some of these guys.


Wade is the best finisher getting inside, the best foul draw because of all the explosion, and the best at getting up in the air and sending shots in the other direction by a lot.

You can argue all day about who looks best in an open gym, but Wade’s combination of size, speed, athleticism, and the raw stamina to do it all game translated and impacted the court more readily. Than the other guys here. He was the best here at using his athleticism to leverage easy baskets, and was the best at using explosiveness to impact the game defensively.

[Jta444]

If Westbrook were included in the list, where would he rank? He’s right up there in explosiveness

Imo Wade is the most athletic complete package guard for me in this list. He checks all the boxes even though he is not really the best at each attribute - strength, agility, explosiveness. There’s a reason he’s a top 3-5 shooting guard all time despite not really having great shooting ability.

Even though the likes of Rose, Westbrook, Morant look more explosive on the court, Wade is not far off and is double their size, strength, and body control. He is like the Lebron James of guards combining size strength and athleticism. Carter has better verticality and size, but Wade has better footwork and agility.

Only reason Kobe is better than Wade is because he is more skilled in basketball. But athleticism wise, among guards only Jordan has him beat.

[mdonnelly1989]

If Westbrook were included in the list, where would he rank? He’s right up there in explosiveness

Imo Wade is the most athletic complete package guard for me in this list. He checks all the boxes even though he is not really the best at each attribute - strength, agility, explosiveness. There’s a reason he’s a top 3-5 shooting guard all time despite not really having great shooting ability.

Even though the likes of Rose, Westbrook, Morant look more explosive on the court, Wade is not far off and is double their size, strength, and body control. He is like the Lebron James of guards combining size strength and athleticism. Carter has better verticality and size, but Wade has better footwork and agility.

Only reason Kobe is better than Wade is because he is more skilled in basketball. But athleticism wise, among guards only Jordan has him beat.

And rank these guys on explosiveness. Rate them each 1-100 if you’re feeling like it strictly on explosiveness.

[mdonnelly1989]

Ima little surprised AI isn’t getting more votes.

[mdonnelly1989]

Simply can´t pick any player over someone that did this.

Watch on YouTube

Why I was curios how where he would rank because def slower than a lot of the other guys. I knew he would get votes due to his leaping ability

[Jta444]

If Westbrook were included in the list, where would he rank? He’s right up there in explosiveness

Imo Wade is the most athletic complete package guard for me in this list. He checks all the boxes even though he is not really the best at each attribute - strength, agility, explosiveness. There’s a reason he’s a top 3-5 shooting guard all time despite not really having great shooting ability.

Even though the likes of Rose, Westbrook, Morant look more explosive on the court, Wade is not far off and is double their size, strength, and body control. He is like the Lebron James of guards combining size strength and athleticism. Carter has better verticality and size, but Wade has better footwork and agility.

Only reason Kobe is better than Wade is because he is more skilled in basketball. But athleticism wise, among guards only Jordan has him beat.

And rank these guys on explosiveness. Rate them each 1-100 if you’re feeling like it strictly on explosiveness.

Rose is 100, Westbrook is 99, Morant is 95, Wade is 90. But Wade is twice as strong and bigger than all of them, with the same elite body control as Rose that Westbrook and Morant don’t have.

[mdonnelly1989]

If Westbrook were included in the list, where would he rank? He’s right up there in explosiveness

Imo Wade is the most athletic complete package guard for me in this list. He checks all the boxes even though he is not really the best at each attribute - strength, agility, explosiveness. There’s a reason he’s a top 3-5 shooting guard all time despite not really having great shooting ability.

Even though the likes of Rose, Westbrook, Morant look more explosive on the court, Wade is not far off and is double their size, strength, and body control. He is like the Lebron James of guards combining size strength and athleticism. Carter has better verticality and size, but Wade has better footwork and agility.

Only reason Kobe is better than Wade is because he is more skilled in basketball. But athleticism wise, among guards only Jordan has him beat.

And rank these guys on explosiveness. Rate them each 1-100 if you’re feeling like it strictly on explosiveness.

Rose is 100, Westbrook is 99, Morant is 95, Wade is 90. But Wade is twice as strong and bigger than all of them, with the same elite body control as Rose that Westbrook and Morant don’t have.

Reason I didn't include Rose, Westbrook, and even MJ is because usually they are the top of these rankings. I wanted to see how people thought about the next tier of guards. I think its pretty clear though that D-Wade would be in that tier.

[bledredwine]

J Rich is underrated in this poll with 0% but I went with Wade. He was a freak.

[cpower]

I will go with Wade who has perfect combination of speed strength and Agility. VC is the goat in the air but Wade takes it if you consider every part of the court

[tmorgan]

I wil never, ever forget Dwyane Wade (along with Travis Diener and Steve Novak) dismantling #1 seed Kentucky in the Regional Final in 02-03. I’d heard of him, of course, but never saw Marquette play before March Madness.

He was faster AND quicker than everyone (that Kentucky team included future NBA players Keith Bogans, Chuck Hayes and Kelenna Azubuike), stronger than all the guards, shot nearly 8 FT a game that year, and was an absolute terror on defense.

I knew LeBron was going first, but in my mind Wade was a better pick than Carmelo for our lucky 2nd pick via the Grizz and Otis Thorpe. And we took neither, of course.

[Optms]

Morant overrated AF

Outside of his speed and jumping ability, he's a twig. AI is the only twig on this list that gets a pass due to being arguably the toughest player of the last 30 years. Give me Westbrook over Morant 24/7 on this poll.

[Onlytimewilltel]

Simply can´t pick any player over someone that did this.

Watch on YouTube

Rare Vin Baker sighting