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Traditionally, point guards are the smallest players on the basketball court – short and relatively slight of build, yet fearless as floor generals, e.g. Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Steve Nash, or Chris Paul. In recent times, though, the game has seen more and more “big” point guards dominating and controlling the court (think Magic Johnson, Jason Kidd, or more recently, Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook); during the 2000s, two ballhandlers who fit this new mold of the physically dominant point guard were Baron Davis and Deron Williams – each measuring in at 6’3” and weighing 200+ pounds, the duo were among the league’s elite point guards in their prime with the ability to both score against smaller defenders and dish it out with the best of them. With each player having seen his brilliance come and gone, let us look back on their notable careers and ponder the question:
Who was better – Baron Davis or Deron Williams?
The Beginning
Davis and Williams each starred at powerhouse basketball schools as underclassmen, which led to both players declaring early for the NBA Draft and becoming #3 overall picks in their respective draft classes.
A native of Los Angeles, Davis grew up in the Southern California area and was a star high school basketball player, eventually becoming a McDonald’s All-American, a Parade All-American, California Mr. Basketball, and Gatorade National Player of the Year as a senior. Heavily recruited by the country’s top college programs, he stayed local at blue blood UCLA and earned Pacific 10 Conference (Pac-10) Freshman of the Year honors, followed by First Team All-Pac-10 and Third Team All-American honors as a sophomore. Davis declared early for the NBA after his sophomore year and was selected third overall in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets – as a rookie, he backed up veteran guards Eddie Jones and David Wesley, and averaged 5.9 points (42.0% shooting), 2.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game.
Meanwhile, William was born in West Virginia, but grew up in Texas, where he played point guard for one of the state’s top high school teams and parlayed that success into a scholarship at Illinois. At Illinois, he was an immediate starter as a freshman and developed into a First Team All-Big Ten selection by his sophomore year; as a junior, he also added Second Team All-American honors and was a Wooden Award finalist while leading the Fighting Illini to the National Championship Game, where they fell to North Carolina. Like Davis, Williams declared early for the 2005 NBA Draft and was also drafted third overall by the Utah Jazz, directly ahead of fellow standout point guards like the aforementioned Paul (#4) and Raymond Felton (#5). Tabbed to be Stockton’s successor at point guard, Williams started a majority of his games as a rookie and put up 10.8 points per game on 42.1% shooting with 2.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game to make the All-Rookie team.
Career Comparison
While both Davis and Williams quickly emerged as star point guards in the NBA and were dominant playmakers for the better part of a decade, each saw a steep decline in performance towards the end of their careers and had played their last NBA game by their early 30s.
Upon taking over as the Hornets’ starting point guard in 2000-2001, Davis improved to 13.8 points (on 42.7% shooting), a career-high 5.0 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game; he soared to even greater heights the next year, putting up 18.1 points per game on 41.7% shooting with 4.3 rebounds and 8.5 assists per game to earn his first All-Star selection. Following the conclusion of the 2001-2002 season, the Hornets relocated to New Orleans and in their inaugural season in the Bayou, Davis was limited by injuries to 50 games played. Nevertheless, he bounced back in 2003-2004 with a career-best 22.9 points (though on only 39.5% shooting), 4.3 rebounds, 7.5 assists, and a league-leading 2.4 steals per game to make both the All-Star team and the All-NBA Third Team. However, midway through the next year, due to a combination of injuries and conflicts with management, Davis was traded to the Golden State Warriors for Speedy Claxton and Dale Davis.
Returning to his home state, Davis never made another All-Star team during his career, but continued to be a top-flight point guard, albeit often as an inefficient shooter. In his first year back home in California, he averaged 17.9 points (38.9% shooting), 4.4 rebounds, and a career-best 8.9 assists per game and would follow with two consecutive seasons of 20+ points per game (the only time in his career accomplishing the feat back-to-back):
- 2006-2007: 20.1 points (on 43.9% shooting) with 4.4 rebounds, 8.1 assists, and a league-high 2.1 steals per game
- 2007-2008: 21.8 points (on 42.6% shooting) with 4.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and 2.3 steals per game
After opting out of his contract to sign with the hometown Los Angeles Clippers in 2008,, Davis was never quite the same player – his scoring dipped to around 15 points per game, though he continued to rebound at a similar clip and dish out 7-8 assists per game. Two-and-a-half years after signing with the team, the rebuilding Clippers dealt him to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a first-round draft pick (later used on #1 overall pick Kyrie Irving) for Mo Williams and Jamario Moon. Davis only played 15 total games with the Cavaliers and was waived at season’s end; he joined the New York Knicks late in the 2011-2012 season following a season-ending injury to overnight sensation Jeremy Lin, but averaged a mere 6.1 points per game in 29 regular season games before suffering a torn right ACL and MCL, as well as a partially torn patellar tendon, during the playoffs. As a result, though he briefly attempted a comeback in the NBA Development League, Davis never played another NBA game after the age of 32.
Similarly, Williams quickly emerged as a star as the heir apparent to Stockton in Utah. After improving upon his solid rookie season to 16.2 points (45.6% shooting), 3.3 rebounds, and 9.3 assists per game in Year Two, he would have four straight years with double-digit assists (though never led the league in the category):
- 2007-2008: 18.8 points (on a career-high 50.7% shooting) with 3.0 rebounds, and 10.5 assists per game; made Second Team All-NBA
- 2008-2009: 19.4 points (on 47.1% shooting) with 2.9 rebounds and a career-best 10.7 assists per game
- 2009-2010: 18.7 points (on 46.9% shooting) with a career-high 4.0 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game; made the first of three consecutive All-Star Games and again earned Second Team All-NBA honors
- 2010-2011: 20.1 points (on 43.9% shooting), 4.0 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game; surprisingly, shortly after the midseason resignation of longtime Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Williams was traded to the New Jersey Nets after five-and-half seasons in Utah for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, two first-round draft picks, and cash
Following a brief stint with Besiktas of the Turkish Basketball League during the 2011 lockout, Williams’ first full season with the Nets would be his best: a career-high 21.0 points per game (though on only 40.7% shooting) with 3.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game to earn his final All-Star selection. With the team’s move to Brooklyn in 2012-2013, he had another strong year with 18.9 points and 7.7 assists per game, but would begin to decline thereafter. Over the next couple of years, Williams’ play dipped to around 13-14 points and 6-7 assists per game and he was waived post the 2014-2015 season; he signed almost immediately with the Dallas Mavericks and posted another solid, but unspectacular season with 14.1 points and 5.8 assists per game. Nonetheless, Williams was waived midway through the following year and latched on with the Cavaliers for the rest of the season; like Davis, though, he played his last NBA game at age 32 during the 2016-2017 season.
Across roughly a dozen NBA seasons (a baker’s dozen for Davis) and 800+ games apiece, Davis and Williams achieved relatively comparable career numbers and accolades. Overall, Williams was slightly more productive at scoring (16.3 vs. 16.1 points per game) and passing (8.1 vs. 7.2 assists per game) and a far more efficient shooter, while Davis was a better rebounder (3.8 vs. 3.1 rebounds per game) and was always among the league leader in steals (2x league leader). This translated into more All-Star Games (3x vs. 2x) and All-NBA selections (2x vs. 1x) for Williams, as well as better advanced metrics in terms of both Player Efficiency Rating (PER: 18.2 vs 17.8) and Win-Shares (77.3 vs. 63.1). Despite their dominant peaks and productive overall NBA careers, neither Davis nor Williams is likely to merit serious Hall of Fame consideration.
Regular Season Statistics
| Baron Davis | Player | Deron Williams |
| 13 (1999-2012) | Seasons | 12 (2005-2017) |
| 835 | Games Played | 845 |
| 16.1 | Points | 16.3 |
| 3.8 | Rebounds | 3.1 |
| 7.2 | Assists | 8.1 |
| 40.9% | Field Goal % | 44.5% |
| 71.1% | Free Throw % | 82.2% |
| 17.8 | PER | 18.2 |
| 63.1 | Win Shares | 77.3 |
| 2x | All-Star Games | 3x |
| 1x | All-NBA | 2x |
| – | MVP | – |
| – | NBA Titles | – |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | – |
| – | Other Awards | All-Rookie |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
As floor generals for good, but not great teams, both Davis and Williams were frequent postseason participants and had their memorable moments, though neither came close to seriously contending for a title.
Across seven playoff appearances (5x with the Hornets and 1x each with the Warriors and Knicks), Davis never made it past the second round, though did lead the postseason in steals per game on three occasions. Even without coming close to a championship, he does have one notable postseason moment: during the 2006-2007 season, Davis led the eighth-seeded Warriors to an improbable six-game upset of MVP Dirk Nowitzki and the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round, averaging 25.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game for the series.
As for Williams, he made nine career postseason trips (four with the Jazz, three with the Nets, and one apiece with the Mavericks and Cavaliers), pacing all players in assists 3x. Like Davis, his most memorable playoffs came in 2006-2007 – after beating the Houston Rockets in the first round, Utah would then defeat Davis’ Warriors (who were coming off their stunning upset of the Mavericks) and advance to the Western Conference Finals before falling in five games to Tim Duncan and the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs; for his part, Williams averaged 19.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 8.6 assists per game for the playoffs. Later on, as a member of the LeBron James-led Cavaliers, Williams would make it to the Finals (a loss to Steph Curry’s Warriors), but he was by then a little-used reserve.
On a head-to-head basis, Davis and Williams met 14 times in the regular season, as well as during one playoff series. During the regular season, Williams dominated the matchup both individually (18.4 points per game on 45.6% shooting with 3.8 rebounds and 9.1 assists per game vs. just 13.5 points per game on a lousy 37.3% shooting with 2.7 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game for Davis) and in terms of the final outcome (11-3 winning record). In the playoffs, during the aforementioned second round of the 2006-2007 postseason, the Jazz beat the upstart Warriors in five games, though Davis was arguably the best player in the series: he averaged 25.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 7.6 assists, and an incredible 4.2 steals per game, while Williams was no slouch either with 16.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 9.6 assists per game.
Though Davis did not represent Team USA on the international level, Williams won two Olympic gold medals with the “Redeem Team” in his prime (2008 Beijing and 2012 London), as well as another gold at the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship.
Playoff Statistics
| Baron Davis | Player | Deron Williams |
| 50 | Games Played | 90 |
| 18.8 | Points | 15.7 |
| 4.3 | Rebounds | 3.2 |
| 6.2 | Assists | 7.0 |
| 44.2% | Field Goal % | 43.8% |
| 70.9% | Free Throw % | 80.3% |
| 21.4 | PER | 18.1 |
| 6.8 | Win Shares | 7.3 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Davis and Williams each quickly became stars at the NBA level, but also declined steeply and were out of the NBA by their early 30s. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Baron Davis | Player | Deron Williams |
| 2000-2010 | Decade of Dominance | 2006-2016 |
| 666 | Games Played | 701 |
| 18.1 | Points | 17.5 |
| 4.2 | Rebounds | 3.2 |
| 7.8 | Assists | 8.7 |
| 40.9% | Field Goal % | 44.7% |
| 71.2% | Free Throw % | 82.7% |
| 18.4 | PER | 19.0 |
| 58.1 | Win Shares | 72.2 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Williams remains the superior player across their respective decades of dominance (i.e. taking out their rookie seasons and their last few years): Davis was a slightly better scorer and rebounder, but Williams was still a more efficient shooter and better passer whose overall game is rated more favorably by advanced metrics.
My Thoughts
When I think about the NBA back in the 2000s and specifically, with regards to Baron Davis and Deron Williams, my impressions of the two point guards are as follows: Davis was the epitome of a mercurial talent, an immensely skilled player who could dominate at his best, but was often lazy or unmotivated; meanwhile, Williams had an interesting trajectory as someone who was originally somewhat underrated (which to a certain extent, comes with the territory when playing for the Jazz), but towards the back half of his career, ended up being overrated in Brooklyn with his albatross contract. All in all, at their respective zeniths, I think Davis was probably the more talented player, but during their parallel careers, Williams was the more consistently excellent player (i.e. less prone to long periods of inefficiency and/or ineffectiveness, whether due to injuries, motivation, or a combination), someone who could score and pass with the best of point guards; moreover, in their head-to-head matchups, he generally came out on top both individually and in terms of leading his team to victory.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Deron Williams
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
- Watch: Get tickets to see the Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, or any other NBA team in action
- Wear: Buy sports apparel for the Hornets, Jazz, or any other NBA team
- Collect: Buy unique sports memorabilia for Baron Davis, Deron Williams, or your favorite NBA player(s) or team(s)
- Play: Show off your basketball knowledge by playing daily fantasy basketball
- Build: Start your own sports website/blog
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