The 10 Best Ballhandlers In The NBA Right Now

Ballhandling is a skill that can define a player. Now that the game of basketball has been influenced more than ever by streetball played on the blacktop, ballhandling skills are increasingly being showcased and developed by players. Strong handles, whether it is a simple behind-the-back crossover or a hesitation move, can benefit the player in a multitude of ways. It is an entertaining, yet difficult to master method to take advantage of an opponent.

NBA greats like Isiah Thomas, Tim Hardaway and Allen Iverson have all influenced ballhandlers everywhere in their quest to handle the ball with beautiful creativity. However, this list below is about ballhandling as a whole, not simply possessing the best crossover moves.

It should be noted that the reason Derrick Rose in not on this list is because of his absence for essentially the entire season with his knee injury. By doing so, we were able to include another player who has demonstrated impressive ballhandling this season.

So, who are the ten best ballhandlers this NBA season? Let’s take a look.

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10. Mike Conley Jr.
Mike Conley Jr. has taken most of the NBA and its fans by surprise, as most didn’t think Conley would be this good. However, he has slowly made a name for himself as Memphis’ true point guard and is on the brink of joining the other top tier, elite lead guards. Besides showing high basketball smarts, superior court vision and leadership, Conley has better ballhandling skills than one may think.

The 26-year-old from Indianapolis has lightening fast hands, but his dribbles are smooth and in control. He can switch to either hand when dribbling on command, which is a problem for defenders trying to predict his next move. Conley has a quick first step and the necessary explosiveness to beat any defender to the rim. If his jump shot would only improve in accuracy, his ballhandling could be that much more dangerous.

9. Ty Lawson
Ty Lawson is known around the NBA for two main things: 1. Speed, 2. Ballhandling. Lawson is so quick that it would be easy to imagine him losing control of his dribble. However, he has the necessary body control to make his extremities work as one. On top of that, Lawson is an undersized point guard at 5-11 and he is able to dribble the ball so low that a defender trying to reach in has a risk of losing balance.

The former Tar Heel uses ball fakes and shrewd dribbling to isolate defenders, staying low after a first crossover dribble, and exploding to the rim while using his strength to protect the ball or find a kick-out pass (averaging a career-high 8.9 assists per game). Lawson is sometimes overlooked, but with a league exploding with point guard talent today, that is bound to happen. However, when Lawson pulls out a ridiculous maneuver in his bag of tricks, fans will watch it over and over. Right, Jodie Meeks?

8. Tyreke Evans
Tyreke Evans’ ballhandling is just downright ridiculous. There’s no other way to put it. ‘Reke’s handles are smooth, fast, in control, and simply stunning for a 6-6 player. When you watch him handle the ball, it is like watching an artist painting his masterpiece. He showcases his streetball background during isolation sets that will inevitably leave the defender shaking his head–most likely in embarrassment.

Evans draws the defender in and makes him commit by toying with the defender in a combination of dribbles. Then he stuns him with a move–varying from a shutter step, to a crossover, to a hesitation move–to get to the lane and finish at the rim. His ability to combine multiple dribble moves mixed in with his rate of explosiveness makes ‘Reke a lethal ballhandler on any type of court.

7. Tony Parker
Tony Parker might be the most consistent point guard in the NBA. Year in and year out, he continues to find a way to make an impact to the ever-consistent San Antonio Spurs. Parker is not equipped with flashy handles and won’t make the defender hit the court because of a crazy crossover move, but similar to his team, TP’s ballhandling is fundamentally smooth.

Parker has perfected using his quickness and handles to get into the paint, where he can either lay it in or dish out a pocket pass to a big–usually Timmy Duncan. Parker takes advantage of his quick handles and efficient dribbling technique to keep the ball low once in the paint, and therefore, secure. He can change hands while in the air to avoid defenders and has made the in-and-out (or inside out) dribble a staple of his game to blow by defenders, especially in transition, for the last 13 years.

6. Deron Williams
When Deron Williams first came into the league in 2005 with the Utah Jazz, many thought he was the point guard of the future. While his game has slipped a bit over the past couple of years, D-Will still has some of the best ballhandling skills the game has to offer. Williams mostly uses his ballhandling skills, namely a crossover, to create space to score, although you can also see him use his handles to dish out the ball to a smaller degree.

Williams’ go-to move is to call for a screen that results in a big man being switched on defense, throwing down a crossover on the big in an iso set, combined with a step-back hesitation move, and then driving hard to the bucket for an easy layup. Williams will also use his handles on the perimeter to create space to shoot with his mean crossover step-back.

5. Rajon Rondo
Rajon Rondo may not have the flashiest handle in the game, but he has arguably the most refined ballhandling skills that destroy opponents night in and night out. His massive hand size allows him to cradle and manipulate the ball in jaw-dropping fashion. Not only does he possess quickness and speed, but he also dribbles the ball with electrifying quickness that often makes his defender lose focus.

Rondo uses his front/back ballhandling prowess to control the ball in stationary positions in half-court sets to survey the court and find that particular possession’s best path to success. Rondo’s famous behind-the-back fake pass to misdirect the defense can either lead to a kick-out pass or to an individual layup. Simply put, Rajon Rondo will use his quickness, his impeccable court vision, and his effective handle to determine the play that yields the highest percentage opportunity.

4. Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry may be the league’s best shooter, but his ballhandling skills are just as effective and may even be better than his ability to score. How is that so? His handles create his scoring opportunities. Yet, that wasn’t always the case. In his college days at Davidson, Curry’s scoring came off of screens, as Davidson already had a ballhandler and assists man in point guard Jason Richards.

Now in the NBA and known for his gifted shooting, Curry wanted to improve his ballhandling skills in order to create space and add another weapon to his game. As the Wall Street Journal explains, Curry started to train in Charlotte during the 2011 lockout offseason to strengthen his handles using unorthodox drills. These drills include behind-the-back and between-the-legs dribbling while essentially playing catch with a tennis ball simultaneously, dribbling with two balls simultaneously (one regulation ball, one a three-pound ball), and dribbling the ball while waving a 40-pound rope in the other hand.

The results from these offseason ballhandling workouts are having stronger and quicker hands to dribble the ball in a way that will confuse and make defenders look like fools. The behind-the-back move that he developed in 2011 allows him to change directions or use his great footwork to stop on a dime and pull up for a shot since the defender bought the bait on his first move. His tool belt of ballhandling skills (deadly crossovers, pinpoint passing) enables the natural shooter to create his own opportunity or find one of his teammates, who excel at moving off the ball and using weak-side screens to get open. Excellent ballhandling is just another reason why Steph is so entertaining to watch.

3. Jamal Crawford
Talk about a flashy handle; Jamal Crawford defines the phrase “effective crossover.” C’mon, when your Twitter handle is @JCrossover, you’re bound to be in the top portion of this list. Crawford has made a career at going 1-on-1 with a defender, drawing them in with the isolation matchup, then putting them on skates with a plethora of crossover moves including behind-the-back, between-the-legs, side-to-side, hesitation, and “shake-and-bake” crossovers. He is one of the best in the business at creating space and using a crossover dribble to go do work.

Crawford can go left or right, causing his defenders to be even more in the dark when trying to predict his moves. Therefore, his ballhandling skills are very deceptive, as he tends to choose his maneuvers on the fly. His quickness and craftiness, combined with the fact that he is going head-to-head with shooting guards, gives Crawford a major advantage over the defense. His handle, specifically his crossover, and his ability to score enable him to be a dangerous weapon for the Clippers’ bench in every game.

It has also made an impression with one of the best ballhandlers of all time, Isiah Thomas, who once told The Los Angeles Times, “To say it’s extremely impressive is an understatement. You want to find a better word in your vocabulary to express how extraordinary his ballhandling skills are in terms of being able to get anywhere out on the floor that he needs to get to and also to create a shot. His creativity in terms of handling the basketball is off the charts.”

2. Chris Paul
Chris Paul is widely considered the best point guard in the NBA today, and he has one of the highest impacts on the game and his teammates around him. One of his strongest tools is his ballhandling skills and what results from them. Paul is such a fundamentally sound ballhandler that he can get to anywhere on the court or get the ball to anywhere on the court by using just his handles to do so–and do it with complete ease. CP3 is easily the most efficient ballhandler in the game, as he has complete control and command of the ball in his hands (highest assist per turnover ratio in NBA). The ball is simply an extension of Paul’s hand.

Paul uses his stellar dribbling talents in an array of ways to take advantage of the defense. For example, double-teaming CP3 might sound like a good plan to trap him on the surface, but that ultimately backfires on the D on most occasions since CP3 can out-maneuver the double team and then find an open teammate for a high-percentage shot. CP3 can also throw down a mixture of crossovers and dribbling displays to leave the defender in the dust and do some damage in the paint.

Every basketball fan knows what kind of playmaker and decision maker Paul is, as that is what he is best known for. His basketball IQ may be unmatched in the league today, as his court vision allows him to get the ball to where he wants it to go, even if that means threading it through the slightest needle. In the same regard, CP3 isn’t hesitant of going against any opponent–regardless of size–to get the ball to where he wants it to go. He simply uses his handles to get the job done before the defense can react.

1. Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving’s stellar handles have been something for fans and analysts to marvel at since the early days at St. Patrick’s High School in New Jersey and during his one-and-done season at Duke. Since he began his pro career in 2011 in Cleveland, his superior ability to handle the ball has been the engine that generates the Cavaliers’ offense–something the team will miss in his absence due to a bicep injury.

Irving may not have the level of fundamental control that Chris Paul has with the rock, but the craftiness and command that Uncle Drew has with his handles and impressive footwork to finish in the paint are of the highest pedigree in the NBA today. Watching this year’s All-Star MVP is not only dazzling and thrilling, but his maneuvers happen so fast that you will likely need to rewind the play a couple of times to clearly see what just happened. This might cause you to YouTube his drills to enhance your handles and have you wrapping the ball with a plastic bag (from a Baron Davis short documentary) as a result.

Irving talked about his renowned ballhandling skills with Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling back in November and said: “I have counters to every move that I do. What I want (fans) to realize is that when I make a move, it’s really a simple move. It’s just done with pace, and it’s done off a counter of something.”

The former Blue Devil has mastered every crossover dribble in the book, but combines them with as many step-back, behind-the-back, between-the-legs, and dribbles as necessary to lose–and often embarrass–the defender. When an international corporation (Pepsi MAX) recruits and markets a series of commercials that centers on your ballhandling skills, you know your handles are something to be reckoned with.

Who do you think are the league’s best ballhandlers?

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