After passing Mookie Blaylock for the No. 11 spot on the All-Time Steals Leaderboard on Saturday, Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul achieved another statistical milestone against the Dallas Mavericks. With 11 assists on Monday night, he took No. 8 in all-time assists from Gary Payton. Paul now has 8,972 in his NBA career.
But he still has a long way to go if he wants to hit the benchmarks set by point guards past. He now stands behind only Isiah Thomas (9,061), Oscar Robertson (9,887), Magic Johnson (10,141), Mark Jackson (10,334), Steve Nash (10,335), Jason Kidd (12,091), and John Stockton (15,806).
While Paul could catch Thomas this season, he was realistic about his chances of topping the list with reporters after the game.
“I don’t like saying never, but ain’t nobody catching that,” Paul said of Stockton. “I don’t know who the statisticians was, who used to do the stats in Utah, but ain’t nobody catching that.”
Stockton averaged 10.5 assists through his 19-season NBA career, appearing in over 1,500 regular season contests. Paul, having just played his 925th career regular season game, would have to play eight more seasons matching Stockton’s 10.5-assist average without missing a game in order to catch him.
Or, you know, average 30 assist per game and catch Stockton before signing his next contract. At this point, each is equally implausible. Of course, this takes nothing away from what Paul accomplished tonight. He has further cemented himself as one of the all-time greatest floor generals.
