The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.On this date in 1965, Bill Russell completed one of the most competitive and petty deals in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain had just signed a $100,000 contract, making him the highest- paid player in basketball. The Celtics had offered Russell $75,000, and he threatened to retire unless he was paid $1 more than Wilt. So the Celtics signed him for $100,001. Incredible!Position rankingsTop 40 lead guards for 2026-27We are ranking the top 40 at every position in today’s positionless NBA. On Friday, we went over the top 40 big men in the NBA. In an unprecedented turn of events, nobody disagreed with the rankings. I also did not read any comments or social media replies.Today, we move on to lead guards! It’s a bit of a broader term than the traditional “point guard” label.Positions can be arbitrary, and we may disagree on the idea of who is a lead guard and who isn’t. But I feel pretty solid that anybody left off this list is either 1) not in the top 40 of lead guards or 2) placed correctly on the off-guard/shooting guard list we’ll see later this week (i.e., Donovan Mitchell). Like the big men on Friday, this list is divided into seven different tiers.Let’s get to it!There isn’t much change since last year, with SGA and Luka still at the top of the list. But Brunson does make it over Curry for the third spot on the list. Maybe Curry is still technically better and the shooting is always going to be a threat in a way others can’t replicate. However, Brunson just led his team to the title and proved that he’s in the conversation with the elite of the elite. As for Tier 2: