Kyrie Irving

Kyrie Irving's left-handed stepback three-pointer over Draymond Green with 53 seconds remaining in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals — when Cleveland was up 89-88 — is the most important individual shot in franchise history for a city that had been waiting 52 years for a championship. He made the shot, the Cavaliers won 93-89, and the defining image of that season was Irving stepping back from a defender who understood exactly what was coming and could not stop it.

That sequence captures what makes Irving the most technically skilled ball handler in the game's modern era. His body control, his ability to operate with either hand, and his capacity to change pace without telegraphing the change are skills that defenders study and still cannot consistently neutralize. His 2023-24 shooting line — 49.7% from the field and 41.3% from three on 25.6 points per game — represents the efficiency that his skill level makes possible when shot selection is disciplined.

Irving attended Duke before Cleveland selected him 1st overall in 2011. His Rookie of the Year performance established the level of his physical gifts immediately; what followed — championships, scoring titles, All-Star selections, and a series of organizational decisions that have defined his career as much as his statistics — produced a player whose basketball legacy is harder to summarize than his skill level alone would suggest.

His 2024-25 line (24.2 points, 49.2% FG, 40.3% from three across 65 games) represents the most complete version of his production — high efficiency across the full offensive menu, in a Dallas system that has given him a consistent second star to take defensive attention.