For many players stats are a key part of judging their careers but championships are also pretty significant.
In today’s game, we’re all obsessed with the stats but how important are they really when all is said and done?
The real goal for any player in the NBA is to win a title with their side, allowing them to retire safely in the knowledge that their name will be marked in history.
Some players are destined to win championships like LeBron James, who has four to his name, but others find it much harder.
Shaquille O’Neal recently stated why Joel Embiid will never ‘win a championship’. Something the all-time NBA assist leader knows all about.
John Stockton was a formidable player in the NBA who applied his trade with the Utah Jazz for 19 seasons spanning from 1984-2003.
The point-guard ended up with numerous accolades and achievements across his career including being a 10x NBA All-Star and a 2x NBA steal leader. He retired with 3,265 steals, which was also the NBA career record at the time.
However, it is perhaps his assist record which still stands strong today that gets the most attention.
Stockton led the league in assists for nine consecutive seasons and holds the single-season record with 1,164. However, the record that still stands strong sees Stockton top of the pile for the most assists in NBA history with a mind-blowing 15,806.
The trailing pack have some way to go if they want to come close to the record set by Stockton.
| Name | Assists |
| Jason Kidd | 12,091 |
| Chris Paul | 12,059 |
| LeBron James | 11,196 |
| Steve Nash | 10,335 |
Stockton was a hot-prospect when he was selected by the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 1984 NBA draft as the 16th overall pick.
In 1992, Stockton and the Jazz reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time. They were however defeated by the Portland Trail Blazers in six games, a story that would become all to familiar.
Stockton and the Jazz reached the Conference Finals again in 94 and 96, but lost to the Houston Rockets and the Seattle SuperSonics, respectively.
The Jazz once again reached the Conference Finals in the 96-97 season and this time thanks to some Stockton heroics managed to beat the Rockets before losing in the Finals to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
The same cruel end would find the Jazz and Stockton one year later with the Bulls once again defeating the Jazz in the Finals.
Mind-blowingly the Jazz reached the NBA playoffs every season during Stockton’s 19-year NBA career yet he never won an NBA Championship.
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