It has reached that point in the offseason when NBA fans begin to patiently wait for the start of the 2025-26 NBA season. As a result, discourse has begun to spread regarding the ranking of legendary point guards Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard. Gilbert Arenas already spoke on the matter, which has recently resurfaced.
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The NBA Top 75 list left off a large group of extremely talented players, including Kyrie Irving. Many people believe the 2016 NBA champion deserves to receive recognition in that light. On the other hand, Damian Lillard received the honor despite not having an NBA Finals appearance under his belt.
It doesn’t help Lillard’s case that Irving has a significantly larger fan base than him. Gilbert Arenas believes that’s the only thing favoring Irving. “If Dame was in a bigger market, trust me, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion,” Arenas said on his podcast.
When it comes to team success, Irving clearly has Lillard beat. The nine-time All-Star only made it to the Conference Finals once and was unable to win a game. However, as individual players, Arenas believes Lillard’s body of work trumps Irving by a large margin.
“Kyrie’s a three-time All-NBA player. Dame is a seven-time. That means he’s a top-three guard in the NBA for seven years,” Arenas proclaimed.
Lillard’s ability to earn All-NBA recognition becomes even more impressive considering the talent at the guard position at that time. Stephen Curry, James Harden, Klay Thompson, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry are just a few names in contention. Lillard remained a staple when in the end-of-season awards.
Although Arenas provided exemplary points to back up his claim, his opinion wasn’t received favorably by his co-hosts. Former NBA player Rashad McCants had a stark opposing view. “Kyrie has done more than Dame as an individual player,” McCants said. “Kyrie deserves way more than three All-NBAs.”
McCants is certainly correct with his second assertion. It is a travesty that the league hasn’t recognized Irving with the appropriate awards for his terrific career. Unfortunately, Irving hasn’t been able to stay on the court nearly as much as Lillard. Irving hasn’t played in more than 60 games in the last six years.
Lillard has played fewer than 60 games three times in his career. All three of those instances have come within the last four seasons. Lillard will miss the entire 2025-26 season due to recovery from a torn Achilles injury, but will look to come back at the same form he was before the injury.
Unless Irving achieves an amazing series of feats in his remaining years in his career, Arenas’ opinion isn’t changing. Even if Lillard fails to return to the player he once was.
