You could say point guards are the most influential player on the team. They run the offense and the ball is in their hands the majority of the time. When it comes to pick-and-rolls, alley-oops and passing to open shooters, passing is key. However, today’s game is adapting and some point guards have a score-first mentality, which may be why this assist record will never be broken.
John Stockton has an insane career assist total of 15,806 over 19 NBA seasons. Averaging 10.5 assists for his career, it is fair to say his record could never be broken. A pretty unbelievable fact, but Chris Paul is currently 33-years-old and has the highest career assist total of all active players. He is 9th all-time in career assists as well, which puts things into perspective while also being one of the greatest point guards in NBA history. To put things into even more perspective, if Chris Paul were to play all 82 games a season and average 12 assists per game until the age of 40, he still wouldn’t pass John Stockton’s assist record. Stockton’s record is that extreme, it’s pretty much set in stone forever.
An NBA player could average more career assists than John Stockton, but his longevity of playtime makes his assist total unbeatable. Stockton missed 18 games in one season and only 4 games in the other 18 seasons. It’s truly incredible if you think about it. Even his longevity is near impossible to reach, count the assist numbers on as well, he will forever be cemented on top of total career assists.
True point guards are hard to come around these days, as scoring has become a more viable option. Elite scorers like Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard are still great playmakers, but their ability to score is more effective than being a pass-first guard. Stockton is known to be the best passer in NBA history and the reputation will not be taken from him.
