12. Klay Thompson, Golden State Warriors
Look, I’m not buying that the Golden State Warriors will be able to start Stephen Curry and Chris Paul together in the backcourt and be successful. I think there’s a chance they could trot that lineup out to start the season, but I still very much consider Klay Thompson to be the starting shooting guard right now for the Warriors. Even though Thompson will be 34 years old by the time the NBA Playoffs begin for the 2023-24 season, he’s still one of the better shooting guards in the league.
It’s unfortunate that Thompson had to overcome back-to-back significant injuries a few seasons ago because if that never happened, there’s a good chance we’d be talking about the Warriors’ historic dominance in the league – but that’s a different conversation for another day. Despite everything that Thompson has had to overcome over the last few seasons, he averaged 22 points and four rebounds on 41 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Not only is Thompson still one of the best 3-point shooters in the league heading into this season, but he’s also going to be remembered as one of the best marksmen in league history. He may not be the player he was defensively a few seasons ago, but he’s still no slack on that end of the floor.