What Are the Most Valuable Skills in the NBA Today?
Though the league is in a three-point revolution, there are far more skills that today’s superstars need to bring to the table
AFTER THE GOLDEN State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015, basketball was changed forever. In a copycat league, the skills that the Warriors promoted — passing, shooting, spacing, etc. — suddenly became highly valued, while the NBA simultaneously shifted away from post-up play.
Lineups moved from favoring rim protection to prioritizing perimeter defense, “3 & D” forwards became one of the most valued commodities in the league, and perimeter-oriented superstars now dominate the sport.
However, though this era has been labeled as the “three-point era,” or the “Three-Point Revolution,” it’s unfair to overlook the other skills needed to survive in modern basketball.
For instance, pick-and-rolls have become more advanced than ever; as a result, defensive schemes have become more extreme than ever.
So what skills are most valuable in the NBA today?
Basketball generally tends to have hard skills and soft skills (rebounding vs. boxing out, for instance), but with the quantification of virtually every skill thanks to new advanced metrics and data tracking, every skill can technically be considered measurable and quantifiable — which begs the question, of every skillset that players in the NBA have, which are the most valuable?
All images were edited with Adobe Photoshop, and all original images courtesy of Getty and USA Today.
Three-Point Shooting
Top players in this category: James Harden, Paul George, Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Devin Booker, Khris Middleton, and Jayson Tatum
It is probably best to start with three-point shooting, which is the most obvious skill that is in demand in the current landscape of the NBA. Three-point shooting’s value manifests itself in many ways.
Firstly, off-the-dribble shooting can be the difference between being a star and being a superstar in the postseason. The ability to make contested, off-the-dribble threes when under duress is a skill reserved for the upper tier of NBA stars — and these shots tend to replace midrange shots that used to be favored in the postseason by players like Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.
Secondly, shooting is perhaps the best way to neutralize other skills on this list. For example, rim protection almost made this list — yet, over and over again, the league has shown that shooting can neutralize even the best rim protectors in the NBA. In the current climate of the NBA, shooting is the one skill that can make players that are below-average at most facets of the game turn into above-average players.
Lastly, to build off of the previous point, shooting is the great equalizer in the NBA. It is how teams can go on incredible offensive runs, come back from seemingly insurmountable deficits, and build offenses that are among the best in NBA history.
Players with the ability to shoot threes off-the-dribble, off of pick-and-roll, and off of catch-and-shoot situations are often in the top tier of stars, and therefore, shooting is one of the most valuable skills in the league.
Drawing Fouls
Top players in this category: James Harden, Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, and Bradley Beal
Though many often consider scoring to be three-dimensional, based on finishing at the rim, scoring in the mid-range, and shooting from behind the arc, there isn’t enough mention of what I consider the fourth dimension of scoring: drawing fouls.
The top players in this category can generate nearly ten points per game by virtue of their ability to draw fouls. And though most don’t mention it, free-throws are one of the most valuable shots on basketball by the sheer points generated per possession.
The average free-throw shooter shot 77.3% in 2019–2020, meaning, on most trips to the line, they generated 1.546 points per possession. That figure is better than a James Harden isolation, a Joel Embiid post-up, and even LeBron James in transition. Frankly, getting to the free-throw line for 100 possessions would create by far the best offense in NBA history.
Like three-point shooting, drawing fouls is an equalizer, as it can make of for weaknesses in offensive players’ games, while also eliminating rim protectors and causing the other team to enter the penalty — which inevitably alters defensive schemes and how aggressive defenders can be.
That said, drawing fouls is legitimately a skill that needs to be learned, which is why so few players attempt over 6 free-throws per game despite there being an extreme number of players who take a high volume of shot attempts.
Playmaking
Top players in this category: LeBron James, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Trae Young, Russell Westbrook, and Chris Paul
Playmaking is an amorphous concept in basketball, but there is one facet of playmaking that is incredibly valuable in today’s NBA: collapsing defenses to open opportunities for others.
While playmaking includes things like outlet passing in transition, setting up shooters off of screens, and simply handling the ball, those are ultimately less valuable than the most difficult form of playmaking, which is bending a defense to open up opportunities for others.
To give examples, consider the difference between LeBron James and Rajon Rondo on last year’s Lakers team. Both are considered to be all-time great passers, and both posted similarly gaudy assist totals when adjusted for minutes played. Yet, LeBron maximized his teammates play with his sheer gravity, while Rondo (at least in the regular season) simply ran offensive sets. While both types of passing are valuable, there is a much higher ceiling to a player that raises the offensive value of others by virtue of creating open looks.
To add further context, players like Lonzo Ball have less star potential due to the nature of their passing, and even a superstar like Nikola Jokic has less value as a passer when he does not command double teams.
Overall, the ways in which playmakers create open looks have remained steady: pick-and-rolls, drive-and-kicks, post-ups, and transition. But the ways that players use these opportunities to create for others separate the stars from the rest.
Defensive Versatility
Top players in this category: Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Marcus Smart, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, Bam Adebayo, and Ben Simmons
Out of the three most vital components to a team’s defense — versatility, perimeter defense, and rim protection — versatility wins out as being the most valuable.
The most common way defensive versatility manifests itself is being switchable on defense. The Houston Rockets most notably made headlines around the league for their switching defense, but almost every team, in some capacity, has leaned towards having versatile defenders ever since the Golden State Warriors won the championship.
The other element of defensive versatility is pick-and-roll coverages. The ability to play every type of pick-and-roll coverage — including drop coverage, switching, hedging, trapping, “up-to-touch” coverage, and “ICE” coverage — is incredibly valuable.
For instance, it is the ability to play every type of defense that makes Anthony Davis a top-five player to me, and in the playoffs, Davis’ ability to switch on defense and cover every type of star guard in the pick-and-roll definitively makes him a top-two defender in the NBA.
Finishing at the Basket
Top players in this category: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, and Jimmy Butler
To finish off this list, finishing may seem somewhat underwhelming, since even average NBA players convert at around 60% at the basket. Yet, looking back on the past five seasons, elite finishing has tended to separate stars from superstars.
For instance, though Steph Curry’s off-the-dribble shooting obviously revolutionized his game, he also became one of the best finishers in the NBA during his MVP seasons. More recently, when Jamal Murray took a star turn in the NBA Bubble, a major change in his game was his ability to finish through contact against stronger, taller players.
Other examples of finishing preventing star players from being superstars include Ben Simmons’ struggles to finish in the half-court throughout his career, Khris Middleton’s struggles at the basket in the 2020 Playoffs, and Paul George’s inability to finish through contact near the tail end of his series against Denver.
Being elite at finishing at the basket also helps by unlocking players’ playmaking ability, which is another skill on this list. A great example of this effect was Jayson Tatum’s newfound aggressiveness attacking the basket from this past season unlocking his passing ability as he commanded more double teams.
Overall, elite finishing, like elite playmaking, tends to separate stars from superstars, making it one of the most valued skill sets in the NBA.
So are there any major conclusions to draw from this list?
I think the first would have to be the differentiation between what is valuable in the regular season and the playoffs. For instance, though rim protection has greater statistical value than defensive versatility over 82 (or 72) games when games matter most, versatility wins out.
The other would be that certain skills separate stars from superstars, namely playmaking and finishing, given that those skills are the ones that tend to help players take the metaphorical “leap” from stardom to superstardom.
Basketball has changed a lot over just the past five seasons, but, based on the overall level of play and the skills required to be an NBA superstar, we are likely watching the highest level of play ever seen in the sport.
