John Stockton is one of the greatest point guards to have ever played this game and a Utah Jazz legend. Stockton was well-known for being an amazing playmaker, but he was a capable scorer when that was required.
Despite his talent, it seems as though some had reservations about picking him in the recent NBA 75 Ultimate draft. Charles Barkley didn’t want to pick John Stockton, as he claimed that Stockton would only play “half the games”.
"He's gonna play half the games."
– Chuck didn't wanna draft John Stockton 😅 pic.twitter.com/JBkpjq5PK8
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 19, 2022
This jab from Charles Barkley towards John Stockton was clearly a reference to the latter’s attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine. Unvaccinated players have some restrictions about where they can play, with some NBA cities having laws that prevent those athletes from playing in home games. John Stockton definitely has a skeptical view of the COVID-19 vaccine, and he has previously made an inaccurate claim about professional athletes “dropping dead” who are vaccinated.
“I think it’s highly recorded now, there’s 150 I believe now, it’s over 100 professional athletes dead – professional athletes – the prime of their life, dropping dead that are vaccinated, right on the pitch, right on the field, right on the court.”
There is no question that from a basketball perspective, it makes sense for a team to value a player lower if they will be missing half of the season. Availability definitely matters, especially during the regular season, when there are a lot of games for a team to wade through. We have seen how some unvaccinated players’ absences affected their teams this season, with the most notable part-time player currently being Kyrie Irving.
It remains to be seen if John Stockton will address what Charles Barkley said in the future. There is no doubt that Charles Barkley meant it as a joke, but we’ll see what happens in the future.
