Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul is moving up the NBA’s career assists list, but has no delusions about catching Utah Jazz legend John Stockton.
There’s no denying it — Utah Jazz legend John Stockton is the greatest assist man in the history of the basketball. His 15,806 career dimes are more than any other NBA player has ever accrued and the man in second place — fellow Hall of Famer Jason Kidd — finished with nearly 4,000 less assists.
When asked about it recently, Houston Rockets point guard and assist maven Chris Paul fully acknowledged the enormity of Stockton’s record, but he also seemed to indicate there was some funny business going in with regards to how his assists were counted.
Or maybe not? You be the judge!
In his team’s Monday night win over the Dallas Mavericks, CP3 dished out 11 assists to help secure the victory. That total put him at 8,972 career assists and moved him past former Seattle SuperSonics great Gary Payton for eighth place on the league’s all-time charts.
He’ll likely pass Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas (9,061) at No. 7 by year’s end, too.
After the Mavs game, Paul was asked about reaching Stockton and had this to say —
"“I don’t like saying never, but ain’t nobody catching that. I don’t know who the statisticians were, who used to do the stats in Utah, but ain’t nobody catching that.”"
Here’s the tape, via Ben Golliver —
Rockets’ Chris Paul moved into 8th place on NBA all-time assist list w/ 8,972 but lamented how far he still is from his goal of unseating John Stockton (15,806) at No. 1: “I don’t like saying never, but ain’t nobody catching that. I don’t know who did the statistics in Utah.” pic.twitter.com/ElDhMtWTr7
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 12, 2019
Paul may have been trying to give Stockton big-time props for establishing such an unreachable record over his time in the Association, but the bit questioning how his assists in Utah were counted comes off as a bit odd given these facts:
- Stockton averaged 10.9 assists per game at home versus 10.1 on the road over his career, for an uptick of 0.8 per contest overall. That’s the exact bump CP3 has gotten over his career (10.1 APG home vs. 9.3 road for a difference of 0.8).
- Stockton was just more prolific overall. Over his 19-year career, he averaged 12-plus dimes per game in eight seasons and consecutively, no less. Paul has never averaged 12 assists per game in a season and has only crossed into double digits six times.
- Paul has put up 9.7 assists per game for his career. Stockton’s career average sits at 10.5.
Again, Paul may not have meant any offense, but his joke about home cooking on the statistical front is rubbing people the wrong way. To them, it comes off as ignorant at best and disrespectful at worst.
I mean, if you want to talk about questionable things happening on the court, how about we talk about the whistle Paul’s teammate James Harden gets?