Isaiah Collier’s rookie season continues to show he is a star for the future. But he’s already made history in his rookie season with the Utah Jazz, breaking John Stockton’s assist record from his rookie year. Stockton had previously set the record with 415 assists during the 1984-85 NBA season. Whereas Collier just surpassed him tonight by registering his 416th assist.
What makes this record even more impressive from Collier is the fact that he broke Stockton’s record much faster. John Stockton played all 82 games and set his assists record for the Jazz.
Whereas Collier has only played 68 games and is likely to play many more games, barring any injuries, as the Jazz look to close out the final stretch of the season. Realistically, Collier can put a lot of daylight between him and Stockton in the all-time leaderboard.
As far as the NBA record goes, Collier is not going to catch up to Mark Jackson, who registered 868 assists in his rookie season.
This is an absolutely phenomenal achievement from the young guard. Collier was drafted by the Utah Jazz with the 29th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Since then, he has proven to be one of the steals of the frankly, quite underwhelming draft class.
For the season, he averages 8.3 points, 6.2 assists, 3.3 rebounds, 0.9 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game while shooting 41.9% from the field, 25.0% from beyond the arc, and 66.7% from the free-throw line.
While his shooting and efficiency definitely need a lot of work, given that his scoring numbers would have been far higher had he been more efficient with his shot selection, he has made a strong start to his life in the NBA. The Jazz must prioritize developing his shooting over the next few years; if they do that, they could unlock another great offensive option.
Collier is likely to be named to one of the All-Rookie teams this season. However, do not expect him to be named Rookie of the Year, with Stephon Castle and Alex Sarr the two likely candidates to win that award. Regardless of the accolades, Collier should be very proud of his rookie season.
The Jazz being one of the worst teams in the NBA helped Collier massively, as it allowed him to play freely without any pressure that his game wasn’t contributing to winning basketball. This type of environment is crucial for a lot of rookies, as that is a lot of pressure for incredibly young players to deal with while trying to adapt from the college game to the NBA.
Hopefully, in the years to come, we will see Collier continue to develop aspects of his game, namely his shooting and his defense. In the next few years, he could become one of the most surprising star turnarounds in recent memory with the potential he is showing.
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