As the NBA continues to grow, certain parts of the game are slowly disappearing. You don’t see many players using Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s famous skyhook anymore.
With the 2025-26 season just around the corner, basketball insiders are buzzing about another potential shift in the game.
NBA veteran Andre Miller recently appeared on the All The Smoke podcast where he backed up St. John’s coach Rick Pitino’s controversial claim: the traditional point guard position is dying out. Miller, who spent 17 years in the league, didn’t hold back when discussing what he sees happening.
“These younger players know it’s a scoring game,” Miller told podcast host Matt Barnes. “They believe they must score the ball and be a threat offensively to make it in the NBA.”
Miller currently coaches the Grand Rapids Gold, Denver’s G League affiliate, giving him plenty of firsthand experience with up-and-coming players.
The conversation started when Pitino made headlines claiming that “the death of the point guard” has arrived. The legendary coach believes the days of floor generals like John Stockton who controlled the game are over.
Pitino even went as far as calling the Clippers’ Chris Paul “probably the last true point guard we have left in today’s game.”
Miller, who led the NBA with 10.9 assists per game in the 2001-02 season, knows a thing or two about being an unselfish teammate. Throughout his career, he became known for setting up his teammates rather than looking for his own shot.
But the modern NBA tells a different story.
Look at 2024-25 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City’s point guard averaged just 6.4 assists per game last season – solid numbers, but nothing extraordinary for his position.
Where SGA made his real impact? Scoring. He led the league with an impressive 32.7 points per game.
This scoring-first mentality from point guards only strengthens Pitino’s argument that the traditional playmaker is becoming extinct.
Despite the trend, Miller still believes in the value of unselfishness. “By doing that, it leads to winning basketball,” he explained during the podcast.
The question remains: can anything be done to preserve the role of the traditional, pass-first point guard in today’s NBA? Or is this evolution simply inevitable as the game continues to change?
