Every NBA team’s greatest point guard of all time

Utah Jazz — John Stockton

1984-2003
13.1 points per game
10.5 assists per game
2.7 rebounds per game

John Stockton and Karl Malone will always be one of the greatest one-two punches. They might be the best pairing to never win a championship. Stockton played almost 20 years in the NBA, building his resumé as an old-school point guard who also had new-school scoring ability. Stockton led the league in assists for nine seasons in a row. He also led the league in steals twice. He used those skills to turn into offense, scoring between 15 and 17 point per game during his entire peak.

Stockton’s best attribute is he was insanely durable. He was an NBA Ironman. He missed games in a season twice. Not significant games. Only twice did he not play all 82 games (or 50 in the lockout-shortened season). He was also incredibly efficient. His shooting percentage for his career was .515. Three times he shot over .540 on the season, including a ridiculous .574 in the 1987-88 season.

Stockton later in his career was a player you wanted taking the last shot of the game. In Game 6 of the 1997 Conference Finals, he won the game on a buzzer-beater shot over Charles Barkley. That shot sent the Jazz to their first NBA Finals.

Stockton made the playoffs in all 19 seasons of his career. After the first two, that was Stockton leading them there. He should have had a championship, but Michael Jordan was in the way of their best team. He was so good at passing the ball and so efficient when he decided to shoot the ball, he just needed the right opportunity to take a team to another level.