As the scoring floodgates in the NBA have opened up in recent seasons, the game has evolved to include more non-traditional point guards like Tyrese Haliburton, Trae Young, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and others. Players like Gilgeous-Alexander as well as Young are unique against the backdrop of NBA history when considering their score-first mentality, whereas previous generations of point guards were more focused on facilitating the offense.

Recently, former NBA sharpshooter turned analyst JJ Redick took to his own Old Man & the Three podcast to break down why he thinks the traditional point guard archetype is now a dying breed.

“To me, the point guard is a dying breed… The primary ball handlers are big wings… This old notion of like, ‘We need a smaller guard to bring the ball up,” said Redick.

Indeed, both Tyrese Haliburton and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander profile physically more as wings than guards, at least compared to previous generations of NBA basketball. Furthermore, one need look no further than the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets, led by seven footer Nikola Jokic, who for all intents and purposes functions as the team's point guard despite being the tallest player on their roster.

As more and more teams embrace the analytics movement and shift to a “positionless” brand of basketball, it wouldn't be a surprise to see smaller, traditional point guards continue to get iced out of the game, much in the same way that non-shooting big men have since the early 2010s.

For better or for worse, the game is certainly changing.