NBA 75: At No. 25, John Stockton was an indestructible guard who set records that may never be broken (2024)

(Editor’s note: Welcome back toThe Athletic NBA 75. We’re re-running our top 40 players to count down every day from Sept. 8-Oct. 17, the day before the opening of the 2022-23NBA season. This piece was first published on Jan. 15, 2022.)

Jeff Hornacek put both arms up in triumph, knowing that a basketball still in midflight would nestle softly in the bottom of the net.

Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan’s last-minute, out-of-bounds play that steamy May afternoon in Houston had taken Hornacek to the corner, while John Stockton used the multiple screen action to pop open at the top of the 3-point line. Stockton caught the pass and took one dribble while Bill Walton on the NBC telecast let out a famous “uh oh.” The biggest shot of his career, launched over the outstretched arms of Charles Barkley, catapulted the Jazz to the NBA Finals for the first time in the Stockton/Karl Malone era.

The Jazz finally climbed the mountain on that day in 1997.

“Because I was in the corner, I had a really clear look at the ball while it was in the air,” Hornacek told The Athletic. “It was good the moment it left his hands. I knew it was going in.”

Today, Stockton is almost universally recognized as one of the top five point guards to ever play the game. The order sometimes varies. Isiah Thomas is certainly in this group. Magic Johnson is almost universally recognized as the best. Stephen Curry, Oscar Robertson, Chris Paul … these arguments can go on forever. The subjectivity of it all is what makes for an amazing conversation.

But the numbers — the numbers — will forever keep Stockton in that conversation, no matter who comes along over time. The numbers, the stone-cold consistency, are undeniable. Stockton led the league in assists a record nine times and finished with 15,806, giving him an NBA record that may never be broken. He led the league in steals twice and had 3,265 for his career. Nobody else in the history of the league has cracked 2,700. He played 19 seasons, 16 of which he appeared in all 82 regular-season games (and another full season in 1999, when the regular season was 50 games). Those 16 seasons are the most in NBA history. He missed 22 regular-season games in his career.

As a small guard, Stockton defined a position. He was as durable as they came. He was nasty, tough and unrelenting on the court — and then known to leave the Delta Center in a minivan. He showed little flash in a league full of flash. He could score at volume, but seemingly as a last resort. He shot the ball at 51.5 percent, which is fourth among guards who played 400 games and shot 50 percent for their careers. He made 845 3-pointers for his career, 58 more than the next three players combined on the 50 percent shooting list. And among that group, only the 6-foot-9 Magic Johnson (.610) has a higher true shooting percentage than Stockton (.608).

Because of this and more, Stockton checks in at No. 25 on The Athletic’s all-time list, certainly one of the best of his day and certainly a guy who would leave an indelible mark on how to play the point guard position.

“He was indestructible,” said Frank Layden, the legendary former coach of the Jazz and the man who drafted Stockton. “Nobody could have predicted the kind of career he would have. Nobody could have predicted his longevity and his ability to stay on the floor. He was always in great physical shape. He always loved the game, and he always loved playing basketball. Those are some of the reasons that he was able to stay on top of his game for so long.”

Numbers and records aside, the shot to beat a Houston Rockets team led by Hakeem Olajuwon and Barkley may have done more for Stockton individually than any statistic could. It proved to people that Stockton was capable of taking over games and winning games with shot-making, rather than playmaking. Where there had been a question before, the shot proved there was an expanded offensive ceiling to his game.

Individually, it probably goes down as the single biggest shot in the history of the franchise. It’s the shot that got the Jazz over the playoff hump, the shot that allowed that era of the Jazz to prove they were more than postseason flameouts.

“His statue is up there (outside of Vivint Arena) for a reason,” said Thurl Bailey, who played with Stockton and is now an announcer with the Jazz. “You can’t even think about the history of the Utah Jazz without including John Stockton. He was the head of the snake. He was the brains of the operation on the court. It will be hard to see that kind of longevity on the court again from the point guard position.”

Who the hell is John Stockton?

From Bailey to Rickey Green to Darrell Griffith, that was the reaction when Stockton, who played at a then little-known university named Gonzaga, was announced as the 16th pick of the famed 1984 NBA Draft.

It also was the initial reaction from Jazz fans. Until that point, Gonzaga’s most famous alum had been Bing Crosby. So, at the draft party, when Stockton’s name was announced, the fans booed the selection. They weren’t booing Stockton, Layden told The Athletic. But, they were confused. Most wanted the Jazz to spend their pick on a known quantity, and Stockton was hardly that. Most wanted the Jazz to spend their pick on a player who looked the part. Stockton, at barely 6 foot 1 and unassuming on his most assuming day, was hardly that.

But in April 1984, a couple of months before the draft, a curious thing happened. In the Olympic trials, the unassuming point guard from Gonzaga was maybe the best point guard in the group at tryouts. He was, for sure, the biggest surprise of the tryouts. Nobody could stay in front of him. He spoon-fed teammates for layups and easy dunks.

Bobby Knight, the coach of that famous 1984 team led by Michael Jordan, cut Stockton, opting to keep Leon Wood over him. (Wood would go on to have a nice NBA career and is now a league official.) But he told Stockton he was good enough to make the team and that he would be telling NBA teams what kind of player he was leading to the draft.

“He caught the attention of our scouts,” Layden said. “We thought he was a nice, solid, all-around player. We had a starting point guard (Rickey Green), and he would go on to be an All-Star. So, we thought that he would be a nice backup point guard for us.”

Green, at the time, was one of the better point guards in the league, swift and a magician with the basketball in his own right and one of the elite defensive point guards. There were no plans on starting Stockton. As far as the Jazz were concerned, he was someone who was there to play 15 minutes a night.

“I liked John’s demeanor in the pre-draft process,” Layden said. “He was a good student of the game. He had great floor vision. He was very strong physically. Much stronger than he looked. I knew Portland was interested in him. They wanted to trade for the pick. I told the people around me, if we take this guy, we will always have someone that we can trade.”

Even if a rookie outplays expectations, it usually takes a year or so for that proverbial cream to rise to the top. For Stockton, it took the first week of training camp. He and Bailey, who was in his second season, consistently took it to the starters while on the second team. Green, normally a defensive dynamo, had issues staying in front. And Stockton played like a veteran, backing down to nobody.

A few scrimmages in, the Jazz knew they had something on their hands. There was a maturity about Stockton, a feel for the game that simply couldn’t be taught. At some point, they were going to have to make room in the rotation for him.

“Rickey came off the floor after the first scrimmage and said, ‘Coach, this sucker can play,’ ” Layden said. “We figured out pretty quick that he was an all-around great player. We looked at each other and said, hey, maybe we do have something. Still, we didn’t know that he was going to possibly be the greatest player at his position in the history of the game.”

Added Green: “One thing about a rookie is that they typically want to fit in and aren’t always aggressive. Stock came in, and he was aggressive. He didn’t back down. He was tough. He was a rookie, but he was not like a rookie. He was quiet, and he played hard. I tell you what, he helped my career out. I had to stay in great shape to stay on the floor with him. And because of that, I think he helped extend my career an extra three or four years.”

The rookie hazing was still a thing, however.Even for Stockton.

His teammates interviewed for this story all remember the time they told Stockton to sit in Layden’s designated seat on the team bus that took them to airports. Layden has always been a boisterous personality, and as a coach, he was capable of chewing a player out on a whim. And when he saw the rookie point guard in his seat, he exploded.

“GET THE HELL OUTTA MY SEAT!!!”

The veterans convulsed in laughter.

“He took it well,” Griffith said. “It was a funny moment, and it was a moment where we all knew he was one of us.”

What made Stockton the player he turned out to be?

His pick-and-roll partnership with Malone was maybe the best in the history of the sport, and it posed a basketball version of the chicken-or-the-egg question. No question that Malone’s ability to finish at the basket, in transition and in the midrange later in his career, helped Stockton’s assists total. At the same time, other than Magic, you probably can’t name a more precise passer or a player with the ability to set up his teammates better than Stockton could.

There were subtle things that contributed to what Stockton became. He had abnormally big hands for a man his size. He was able to easily palm a basketball, and he had a certain control over the basketball that others didn’t. He was one of the best passers off the dribble in the history of the league. He rarely looked to score, but when he did, he was efficient and a great shooter. He was much better defensively than he looked. He was quietly a great pick-setter, particularly on the cross-screen action that consistently freed Malone for easy baseline looks.

Almost as important, Stockton rarely turned the ball over. And it wasn’t as if he was a low-risk passer. He dribbled through traffic, he had the ball in his hands on almost every possession, he was the one who started almost every play.

If you average two assists per turnover, you are considered a good point guard. Stockton averaged nearly four assists to every turnover.

“He was giving the ball to a guy that could finish, and that was very important,” Layden said. “He played in the right system. Playing for Jerry Sloan made him better and better. He always had a toughness with him, and that was also very important.”

Stockton made 11 All-NBA teams. He led the league in assists nine times. He made five NBA All-Defensive teams. He played for that immortal 1992 Dream Team. The Jazz were a fixture in the postseason and went to two NBA Finals. And, today, at almost 60 years old, Stockton still plays pickup basketball every Sunday morning in his hometown of Spokane, Wash.

The love for the game is what drove him in his prime and what drives him now. His love for the game is why you can never start a list of the best point guards without acknowledging the presence of John Stockton.

Career stats: G: 1,504, Pts.: 13.1, Reb.: 2.7, Ast.: 10.5, FG%: 51.5, FT%: 82.6, Win Shares: 207.7, PER: 21.8

The AthleticNBA 75 Panel points: 686 |Hollinger GOAT Points: 214.2

Achievements: 11-time All-NBA, 10-time All-Star, Assists champ (’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96), Steals champ (’89, ’92), Olympic gold (’92), Hall of Fame (’09), NBA at 50 (’96), NBA 75th Anniversary team (’21)

(Illustration: Wes McCabe / The Athletic; Photo: Otto Greule Jr / Allsport / Getty Images)