John Stockton

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John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is a former NBA player. He spent his entire career (1984-2003) as a point guard for the Utah Jazz.

Stockton was born and raised in Spokane, Washington and attended Gonzaga Preparatory School. He then played college basketball for Gonzaga University in his hometown. He was selected by the Jazz in the first round (16th pick overall) of the 1984 NBA Draft.

Though only 6'1" in a league of giants, Stockton is considered one of the greatest players ever to play the position of point guard. He averaged a career double-double, with 13.1 points and 10.5 assists per game. As of 2005, he holds the NBA's records for career assists (15,806) and career steals (3,265). He had five of the top six assists seasons in NBA history (the other belonging to Isiah Thomas). He holds the NBA record for the most seasons and consecutive games played with one team, and is second in total games played, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He missed only 22 games during his career, 18 of them in one season.

He appeared in 10 All-Star games, and was named co-MVP of the game in 1993 with teammate Karl Malone. He played with the 1992 and 1996 US Olympic Basketball teams, known as Dream Teams I and II, the first Olympic squads to feature NBA players. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team twice, the Second Team six times, the Third Team three times, and the All-Defensive Second Team five times. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players In NBA History in 1996. Stockton's career highlight came in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against Houston when Stockton hit a game-winning shot over Charles Barkley to send the Utah Jazz to the franchise's first NBA Finals.

For many years, he and Malone were the Jazz's 1-2 punch. Most of Stockton's assists resulted from passes to Malone. In Salt Lake City, this is commemorated by a car dealership with the name Stockton to Malone Honda. Since the owner of the Jazz, Larry Miller, owns several car dealerships, one could assume the creation of this dealership was part of their package for playing for the Jazz.

Stockton chose to announce his retirement with a released statement instead of the customary news conference. The Jazz later held a retirement ceremony for him, in which the city of Salt Lake renamed the street in front of the Delta Center, where the Jazz play, "John Stockton Drive" in honor of his achievements. His number #12 was retired by the Utah Jazz during a game on November 22, 2004. A statue of Stockton can be seen in front of the Delta Center; an accompanying statue of Karl Malone will be placed next to Stockton's sometime during the 2005-2006 NBA Season.

He and his wife, the former Nada Stepovich (daughter of Michael Anthony Stepovich, the last territorial governor of Alaska), have two daughters, Lindsay and Laura, and four sons, Houston, Michael, David and Samuel. They currently reside in John's hometown of Spokane, WA.

External links

1992 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball – "Dream Team"
Charles Barkley | Larry Bird | Clyde Drexler | Patrick Ewing | Magic Johnson | Michael Jordan | Christian Laettner | Karl Malone | Chris Mullin | Scottie Pippen | David Robinson | John Stockton
Coach Chuck Daly


1996 Olympic Champions Men's Basketball
Charles Barkley | Anfernee Hardaway | Grant Hill | Karl Malone | Reggie Miller | Hakeem Olajuwon | Shaquille O'Neal | Gary Payton | Scottie Pippen | Mitch Richmond | David Robinson | John Stockton
Coach Lenny Wilkens
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