John Stockton career assist record=unbreakable records?

Homer38 · Post #1 » by **Homer38** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:43 pm

https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/ast_career.html

Do you think this record could be broken one day or do you think it's going to be impossible?

What are the odds that this record is going to be broken one day?

pace31 · Post #2 » by **pace31** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:47 pm

I won't ever call it unbreakable, but the way the game is played today doesn't lend to 14 / 15 APG seasons anymore and who knows if 82 game seasons will even be around in the next few seasons. Then in those 82 game seasons Stockton played all 82 games what 16 times or something?

Barring any major rule changes, schedule changes, or a crazy outlier player this record should be 99.9% safe

TheNG · Post #3 » by **TheNG** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:48 pm

Any record is breakable, simply because the way basketball is played changes and the rules can change as well. No one can expect that.
When Kareem broke the all time points record it was thought to be unbreakable.
One day they decided it's ok to skip college and boom - a player who skipped college just broke that record today.

G35 · Post #4 » by **G35** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:48 pm

Both of Stockton's records are safe....

Ambrose · Post #5 » by **Ambrose** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:49 pm

Not in my lifetime.

Chris Paul is closest, and he'd need to average 10 apg for the next six years playing 80 games/season to get there. To put that in perspective he's only averaged 10 apg seven times in his entire career, and he's well past his prime now. He's also only played 80 games in a season three times.

Bornstellar · Post #6 » by **Bornstellar** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:52 pm

I don't think his assist record will ever be broken. No one is even close to him right now

HoopsterJones · Post #7 » by **HoopsterJones** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:53 pm

The modern NBA has made the back to the basket low post Centers and traditional point guards obsolete.

The way that ball movement is paramount (the extra pass to the open man for a 3) it will be difficult for any player to sustainably average 12-15 assist per game every season.

I think Stockton’s assist and steal record will stand for a long long time.

Ron Swanson · Post #8 » by **Ron Swanson** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:56 pm

Yeah, despite scoring being easier now, even the uber-heliocentric guys (Jokic, Lebron, Luka, Harden) aren't approaching 11-12 APG seasons anymore. No one's cracked 12+ per game in a single season since Stockton did it in '94-95. Just don't see it happening.

ShazamDaShiznt · Post #9 » by **ShazamDaShiznt** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:57 pm

This and Wilt's 50 ppg for a whole season are some of the records that won't be broken.

Stockton played 1500 games. Just for the record, Bron has 1400 games played right now.

Chris Paul would need over 200 games averaging 20 assists per game to catch up Stockton. That is insane.

HoopsterJones · Post #10 » by **HoopsterJones** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:58 pm

Bornstellar wrote:I don't think his assist record will ever be broken. No one is even close to him right now

Yeah agreed.

Chris Paul is the closest active player who’s still behind by 4.5k assists. He would need to average 1000 assist for 4.5 more seasons to have a shot which is not realistic at all.

Lebron is around 5.5k behind
Westbrook is around 6.8k behind

Jokic is around 12k behind

Profound23 · Post #11 » by **Profound23** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:58 pm

Lebron just needs about 13 assists per game for the next five years, but he can't do load management anymore and this record is his.

CKB · Post #12 » by **CKB** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:59 pm

Trae Young got a real chance to break Stockton's assist record. Trae is already in the top 250 in assists and he's only 24 right now. As long as he can stay healthy and have a long NBA career, he will break it when he is around 36. The league is in fast pace and no defense era. There are NBA teams scoring 140+ each night meaning more assist opportunities.

JN61 · Post #13 » by **JN61** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 5:59 pm

We literally had this thread a week ago.

Post #14 » by **boomershadow** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:01 pm

Profound23 wrote:Lebron just needs about 13 assists per game for the next five years, but he can't do load management anymore and this record is his.

Now that the points record is broken, any chance he starts ultra padding his assists?

HoopsterJones · Post #15 » by **HoopsterJones** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:04 pm

CKB wrote:Trae Young got a real chance to break Stockton's assist record. Trae is already in the top 250 in assists and he's only 24 right now. As long as he can stay healthy and have a long NBA career, he will break it when he is around 36. The league is in fast pace and no defense era. There are NBA teams scoring 140+ each night meaning more assist opportunities.

If he stays healthy and averages 800 total assists a season for the next 16 years, then yes he has a shot.

For him to break it in 12 years, he would have to average 1066 total assist a year which is 13 APG for all 82 games. I’d bet against it happening.

Post #16 » by **slick_watts** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:05 pm

it's difficult for the same reason the points record is difficult- players these days don't play enough to accumulate those totals. that's what makes lebron's achievement so special, he's had to crush any reasonable expectation of player longevity to catch kareem. no player is going to break stockton's record or lebron's record as long as 3000 minute seasons are history. the only way is if the nba adds games to the schedule.

JN61 · Post #17 » by **JN61** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:08 pm

CKB wrote:Trae Young got a real chance to break Stockton's assist record. Trae is already in the top 250 in assists and he's only 24 right now. As long as he can stay healthy and have a long NBA career, he will break it when he is around 36. The league is in fast pace and no defense era. There are NBA teams scoring 140+ each night meaning more assist opportunities.

Don't think so.. Trae isn't even close in reality... Young has just 2 seasons over 600 assists so far. Stockton had 16 years over 600 assists, 7 which were over 1k. Young probably hits over 700 this season but that is nothing when in next decade Stockton pretty much averages over 300 more assists per season. And from that point onwards till Stockton retired? He averaged identical amount of assists Young has averaged this far...

If Trae keeps this pace he is still bellow 10k assists when he is around 34 years old. Still 30% behind Stockton.

Edit: In fact I believe closest that get to that record from active players are Paul and Westbrook and even they will be thousands behind.

Post #18 » by **dockingsched** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:09 pm

How score keepers attribute assists is much too transparent and open for review nowadays.

Nate505 · Post #19 » by **Nate505** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:12 pm

dockingsched wrote:How score keepers attribute assists is much too transparent and open for review nowadays.

It's amazing this myth still persists to this day.

Post #20 » by **Inigo Montoya** » Wed Feb 8, 2023 6:13 pm

Ambrose wrote:Not in my lifetime.

Chris Paul is closest, and he'd need to average 10 apg for the next six years playing 80 games/season to get there. To put that in perspective he's only done that seven times in his entire career, and he's well past his prime now.

And six years from now he'll be 75 years old.