NBA Wing Trios: Any general manager would have mentioned his team’s wing depth if you had asked them what they hoped to change before the summer began. Every GM is searching for length, size, and shooting. The more they have, the more adaptable and successful their team is likely to be.
We’ve evaluated each team’s NBA wing trios from 1 to 30 based on the output, potential, and adaptability of the top three wings. Each NBA wing receives a rating in each area ranging from 1 to 5, and the sum of those grades is used to get the overall score.
It’s hardly a precise science to identify which players are wings and which are, say, ball-handlers or mostly frontcourt players. For instance, Grant Williams and Draymond Green are not regarded as wings, while Brooklyn’s Dorian Finney-Smith is. Why? due to the fact that Finney-Smith defends wings more frequently than Green and Williams, whose assignments tend to be bigger. Devin Booker will manage a large portion of Phoenix’s offence, but he will also play wing defence. He has wings. Guard Bradley Beal is not a candidate for this workout. Steph Curry is not a wing, although Seth Curry is. You’re welcome to criticise and argue, but you’ll see that our grading is thorough. Phoenix is where it all begins since they recently changed their lineup.
Ranking the best NBA wing trios
1. Phoenix Suns
The Suns have traded Kevin Durant for Chris Paul and Bradley Beal for Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson since the trade deadline of the previous season. Ironically, if they had avoided making those transactions, they would have had the best NBA wing trios this season. Nevertheless, they are ranked first for 2023 mostly due to their top-heavy structure.
Both Booker and Durant scored a 5 for production. We had the choice of choosing Eric Gordon in addition to Josh Okogie as their third wing. Phoenix is rated 33 overall, in either circumstance. After the first layer, they aren’t as deep as their rivals, but since we’re analysing trios, the Suns are betting that their top players are powerful enough to make up for their lack of depth.
2. Boston Celtics
The Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum and the extremely wealthy Jaylen Brown, sit directly behind the Suns in the standings. Tatum is outstanding and is getting better, while Brown just signed a five-year, $304 million supermax agreement and is entering the 2023–24 season after surviving another round of trade rumours.
Sam Hauser appears to be the early favourite to gain minutes in his third season, but Boston will need to settle on a third wing. This summer, they also acquired Oshae Brissett.
You might also be interested in reading this: Top Players Who Are Not In The Basketball Hall of Fame
3. Los Angeles Clippers
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are the best wing tandem in the game when they are on the court together. The Clippers are as deep as any team in the league with Nic Batum playing in his final NBA season and Norman Powell coming off the bench.
The Clippers, on the other hand, fall to No. 3 (matching with our fourth-ranked club in terms of cumulative score) because to their deteriorating health. Leonard and George have missed a total of 286 games in their four years in LA. Last year, George missed 26 games while Leonard missed 30 before getting hurt again in the semifinals. The Clippers lost ground because of the injuries, which decreased their productivity levels.
4. New Orleans Pelicans
Even after passing Brandon Ingram, who is still only 25 years old, the Pelicans may have the league’s finest combo of youthful wings. One of the best three-point shooters in the NBA and one of the best three-and-D wings is Trey Murphy III. On defence, Herbert Jones poses a threat.
Ingram, though, shouldn’t be overlooked because he quietly averaged 27.3 points and 6.9 assists following the All-Star break and may have a post-Team USA bounce.
5. Brooklyn Nets
The Durant-Kyrie Irving era ended, and the Nets began a rebuild centred on a talented and intriguing bunch of wings. Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, who relocated from Phoenix in February, are the main performers. In the Kyrie deal, they also acquired Finney-Smith from the Mavericks. Without taking into account Royce O’Neal or Ben Simmons, those three players alone would be good for a total score of 30, according to the scoring system.
If Bridges can improve on his post-trade performance in Brooklyn, when he occasionally appeared to be a potential All-Star, this team might become one of the top three.
6. Toronto Raptors
It’s a bit unclear who plays what for the Raptors, but we settled on Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby, and Gary Trent Jr. (deciding that Pascal Siakam should be regarded as a large).
Barnes’ third-year improvement might propel this team to elite status, provided they don’t move Anunoby.
7. Orlando Magic
There isn’t a finer 25-and-under wing tandem in the NBA than Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, who are the foundation of the Magic. Wagner is a dynamic co-pilot, while Banchero is a 20-point scorer who is improving.
8. Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers have improved a positional group that was previously poor during the last year. Along with LeBron James, of course, the Lakers now have a strong and adaptable bunch of two-way wings thanks to the rise (and re-signing) of Austin Reaves and the affordable addition of Taurean Prince.
9. Oklahoma City Thunder
This squad was the most difficult to grade. Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are technically guards, but if you squint hard enough, you may think of them as wings since they are lengthy and switchable. We compromised and included Giddey as a wing while excluding SGA.
The Thunder have as tantalising a lineup as any when Giddey’s talent is combined with the reliable Lu Dort and intriguing Jalen Williams.
10. Miami Heat
The Heat are elevated on this list by Jimmy Butler’s exceptional play but don’t overlook Caleb Martin or the recently signed Josh Richardson. Erik Spoelstra trusts Martin in a variety of situations even if he may not average his East finals stats over the course of a season. Richardson will block several attempts while still converting open shots.
11. Golden State Warriors
It’s a little unexpected that the Warriors are ranked this low. But the reason for this is that while the untested wings of Golden State, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody, score low in production and higher in upside, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson, and Gary Payton II, rank high in output but low in upside.
The Warriors might be considerably higher this time next year if one of the young players breaks out.
12. Denver Nuggets
Denver’s wings are above average, but they could be undervaluing how well they complement Nikola Jokic. Particularly Aaron Gordon, who has evolved into the ideal cutting, passing, and defensively-minded wing needed to play alongside Jokic (the Jokic-Gordon two-player combination is one of the league’s best-rated high-usage groups).
13. Sacramento Kings
The Kings, like the reigning champions, settled on a reliable NBA wing trios to support their great centre-point guard pairing. All three of these players—Harrison Barnes, Keegan Murray, and Kevin Huerter—offer length and shooting. Barnes is also a strong defender, and Murray hinted at being a spectacular two-way player during his rookie campaign.
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards is regarded as a wing for the purposes of this exercise since he frequently accepts more demanding defensive tasks. His output and potential boost Minnesota’s standing, while Jaden McDaniels and Kyle Anderson are regarded as reliable wing players.
15. Utah Jazz
Ochai Agbaji gives this squad additional potential, while Lauri Markkanen is one of the NBA’s top-scoring wings. Talen Horton-Tucker has Utah fans more excited than any player since Lakers supporters.
16. New York Knicks
The wing bullpen for New York is made up of RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes, and Josh Hart. While they are quite productive (especially when you include in Grimes’ and Hart’s defence), they have a ceiling owing to their limited potential and flexibility.
17. San Antonio Spurs
On a terrible team last season, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell scored 22 and 18.5 points, respectively. Even if the counting figures were a little overblown, both had enough glimpses to trust in their potential. Malaki Branham’s rookie season ended on a high note, and the Spurs hope he can build on it.
18. Houston Rockets
Amen Thompson and Tari Eason have more potential than any other rookie-sophomore wing duo in the NBA. Although Dillon Brooks’ hire has limited potential, it does result in some immediate defence productivity.
It will be difficult for new coach Ime Udoka to strike a balance between the necessity to play his new, expensive free agents and the need to give the young players experience.
19. Portland Trail Blazers
In the aftermath of Damian Lillard’s desire for a trade, the decision to re-sign Jerami Grant to a five-year, $160 million contract was received with scepticism, but it improves an otherwise unimpressive bunch of wings. The Blazers’ greatest asset is Shaedon Sharpe’s enormous potential.
20. Washington Wizards
It was somewhat unexpected that the Wizards were placed this high, but Kyle Kuzma’s output and flexibility, along with youngster Bilal Coulibaly’s potential, helped to raise Washington’s ranking.
21. Detroit Pistons
Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Harris, and Ausar Thompson all check off production boxes for the Pistons, while Thompson, a rookie, also checks off potential and versatility. Unfortunately, no one player can tick off every box by themselves.
22. Memphis Grizzlies
Desmond Bane is the only seasoned wing left with the Grizzlies after Brooks left in free agency. John Konchar, David Roddy, and Zaire Williams are in second and third place, respectively, behind Bane. There was too much unknown to give any Memphis wing other than Bane a high rating, but one of them may explode, putting the Grizzlies in much better condition.
23. Charlotte Hornets
Second choice While Gordon Hayward and Cody Martin are well-known commodities, Brandon Miller offers Charlotte’s wing room some potential to grasp onto.
24. Atlanta Hawks
De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and AJ Gryphon are Atlanta’s top three wings, and although each is capable, none has shown to be dependable over time. The Hawks rank a little lower than anticipated since this exercise should have gone beyond the top three because they have good fourth and fifth wings in Saddiq Bey and Jalen Johnson.
The Hawks will have nights when they appear to be incredibly deep and others when it appears like they should start over by trading the whole team.
25. Cleveland Cavaliers
Although the NBA wing trios consisting of Caris LeVert, Max Strus, and Georges Niang is effective, none of them has the potential to be a long-term solution for a squad that is developing around Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. However, this bridge group is strong and is most likely to do higher than this rating.
26. Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks might have been third if Giannis Antetokounmpo had been classified as a wing. Giannis can no longer be classified as anything other than a big man, therefore the Bucks are left with Pat Connaughton, Khris Middleton, and Grayson Allen. This summer, Malik Beasley was also added.
27. Indiana Pacers
An offence-defence trade-off is provided by Buddy Hield and Bruce Brown (though I’m not sure how useful Brown will be on offence now that he’s not playing with Jokic). The third wing position was awarded to Jordan Nwora. He’s okay.
28. Dallas Mavericks
Dallas lost any wing depth it had as a result of the Kyrie Irving deal, and it made no effort to regain it this off-season. Grant Williams is a welcome acquisition, but he doesn’t fit into our wing group. Tim Hardaway Jr., Josh Green, and Seth Curry are instead the Mavericks’ top three players, with Derrick Jones Jr. and newcomer Olivier-Maxence Prosper receiving honourable mentions.
Prosperity and Green provide defence and upside. Curry and Hardaway provide shooting. There isn’t a single player that contributes enough on both ends to be rated above average for his position. Jason Kidd will need to experiment a lot to discover the ideal mixtures.
29. Philadelphia 76ers
After losing Niang in free agency, the 76ers are severely lacking in trustworthy wings beyond Tobias Harris and De’Anthony Melton. (Perhaps a deal involving James Harden might improve Philadelphia’s depth.)
30. Chicago Bulls
DeMar DeRozan scored well for output but poorly for potential and adaptability. Torrey Craig is a good addition, but he doesn’t have much of a booming potential. As of yet, we are unaware of Dalen Terry.
Here is the Ranking of the best NBA wing trios. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
