This is the summer for NBA teams to get a point guard

The three best players in the world — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kawhi Leonard — might be small forwards, but the NBA is a point guards’ league.

Three of the four conference finalists feature an All-Star point guard. (The Spurs lost their past-his-prime former All-Star and Finals MVP point guard Tony Parker to injury.) On the eight teams who won a playoff series this year, only the Jazz starred a point guard who has never been an All-Star. That point guard, George Hill, is quite in vogue for his defense and shooting.

The top two finishers in MVP voting will likely be two point guards: James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Of the six total guard spots available on the three All-NBA teams, five went to point guards and only one went to a shooting guard (DeMar DeRozan, who is a mildly controversial pick over point guards Chris Paul and Damian Lillard).

If you do not have a really good point guard, chances are you’re irrelevant. The good news is that there will be plenty of opportunities for teams without top-flight point guards to gain one this summer.

Five of the top 10 prospects in Ricky O’Donnell’s latest 2017 NBA mock draft are point guards: Markelle Fultz, Lonzo Ball, De’Aaron Fox, Frank Ntilikina, and Dennis Smith Jr.

Don’t have a high draft pick? Well, seven of the top 20 unrestricted free agents are point guards: Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Jrue Holiday, the aforementioned Hill, Jeff Teague, and Patty Mills.

No one but the Boston Celtics has a shot at Fultz, and Curry is extremely unlikely to leave his Bay Area haven. Altogether, there’s still a lot of opportunity to bolster that critical position for teams in need this summer.

L.A. has D’Angelo Russell, who came on toward the end of this season, but the Lakers have an opportunity to pick up the potentially transformational Ball or the highly rated Fox with the No. 2 overall pick. The Sixers should be able to add a high-ceiling point guard at No. 3.

The Kings are thirsty for point guards and small forwards at Nos. 5 and 10: they should have options. The Magic at No. 6 can move on from the Elfrid Payton era with someone like Smith. The Knicks even have a shot at taking their point guard of the future at No. 8, assuming the Wolves (who have Ricky Rubio and Kris Dunn) look to a wing.

Trades or surprise picks from the Suns could disrupt all that, but there should be enough high-end point guard prospects to help those five teams out if they want it.

What about the teams with holes at the point that lack such high draft picks? The Mavericks appear to be right outside the top-tier point guard prospect bubble at pick No. 9 — someone could fall, but you wouldn’t put all of your ducks in that basket.

Along with Dallas, there are the Pelicans, Bulls, Nuggets, Bucks, Jazz, Pacers, and Nets. If the Clippers and Raptors lose their top-flight free agent point guards, add them to the list. We should probably include the Spurs in the mix, too, given Parker’s injury and Mills’ status.

Again, it’d be extraordinary if, for whatever reason, Curry left the Warriors. (If he did, one presumes it would remake the league entirely as teams reacted to Golden State’s downgrade.)

But CP3 leaving the Clippers? That’s easier to imagine. Lowry might be even money to leave Toronto at this point, given Masai Ujiri’s comments on how much the club needs to change. Hill already had one contract impasse with the Jazz (who have to pay Gordon Hayward, their top priority, too).

Will the Pacers invest heavily in Teague while Paul George’s future is up in the air? What about the Pelicans, who need results now? Does that include investing the farm in Holiday? There’s the potential real chaos in the point guard market.

There’s also the chance that everyone settles into their comfortable situations and re-signs. But there’s a stronger chance some set of dominoes — maybe a trade, maybe a surprising decision from CP3 — falls, tossing the market in surprising ways. If you’re a team without a high-end point guard, this is the summer to go get one.