John Stockton is one of the best point guards ever. He is generally known for his ability to pass the ball, and his partnership with Karl Malone made the Utah Jazz one of the best teams in the 90s.
While he excelled at many aspects of the game, John Stockton wasn’t regarded as extremely athletic during his career. Recently, John Stockton admitted that he only dunked once during his career, but that nobody noticed it, even though he was “pretty fired up about it”. (4:05):
“One. And nobody even noticed it. I can tell you the time, the place, the game, and it was late in the game, and I didn’t tear the rim down or anything, but I was pretty fired up about it. Nobody even came up off the bench or noticed. I said well, that as good as it gets, boys. I didn’t really try it again… They didn’t have video back in those days. It was a Cleveland game back in my first or second game at the old Salt Palace, so I don’t think there’s any video.”
Obviously, one doesn’t necessarily have to be able to dunk to be a good basketball player. We have seen many players have great and long careers even if they didn’t have transcendent athleticism in the past, with John Stockton obviously being among their number. It is definitely fun to imagine John Stockton dunking though, even if his one dunk was just a basic dunk.
John Stockton was viewed by some as the “perfect point guard”, and there’s no doubt that he’s a legend of the game. While he didn’t end up winning a championship during his career, there’s no doubt that his knowledge of the game is widely respected by others, and many still admire his pass-first play style.
