{"id":51174,"date":"2025-05-23T03:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T03:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/51174\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T03:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T03:59:10","slug":"dallas-mavericks-icon-jason-kidd-names-the-greatest-passer-in-nba-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/51174\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas Mavericks icon Jason Kidd names the greatest passer in NBA history"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before becoming head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Jason Kidd<\/a> was one of the most accomplished players in the league across nearly two decades. During his career, he won an NBA title and earned numerous individual accolades, establishing himself as one of the most influential point guards of all time. Now, he has revealed who he believes is the greatest passer in league history.<\/p>\n

Kidd made the comments during an interview on The Dan Patrick Show, where he was asked to name, in his opinion, the best passer of all time. \u201cBest passer. I\u2019m gonna go with (John) Stockton<\/a>,\u201d he said after pausing briefly to think.<\/p>\n

Explaining what made the Utah Jazz legend so special, Jason was clear. \u201cI think the bounce pass, he had big hands, could take it off the dribble, could pause with it. Some would say it\u2019s maybe double-dribble,\u201d the Mavericks coach joked. \u201cI think he knew how to manipulate the ball off the dribble and being able to find his target and he had some pretty good targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

That joke led Patrick to ask: \u201cWhen did carrying become legal in the NBA?\u201d The former point guard, again with a smile, replied: \u201cIn 1960. It\u2019s always been a part of the game.\u201d The host continued on that theme. \u201cNow you can have the hand on the bottom of the ball and then go\u2026\u201d (he mimicked an upward motion with his hand). \u201cWas it (Allen) Iverson who started it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"John<\/p>\n

Utah Jazz legend John Stockton<\/p>\n

Jason again thought for a moment and gave his take. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was Iverson. I think it\u2019s the guy we were just talking about. If you look at Stockton, he knew how to manipulate the dribble,\u201d said the NBA<\/a> champion with Dallas in 2011. \u201cWas he dirty?\u201d Dan Patrick asked about Stockton. \u201cHe was smart,\u201d Kidd replied with another grin.<\/p>\n

\"Not<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

Not Michael Jordan: John Stockton names the two greatest NBA players of all time<\/p>\n

<\/a>The case for John Stockton<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no surprise that Jason Kidd named John Stockton as the greatest passer of all time. After being selected by the Utah Jazz with the 16th overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft\u2014the same class that featured Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Hakeem Olajuwon\u2014the point guard gradually earned his spot until solidifying his role in the 1987\u201388 season.<\/p>\n

Starting that year, Stockton averaged more than 10 assists per game for a full decade, earning nine straight NBA assists titles from 1988 through 1996. That\u2019s not all\u2014he still holds the record for most assists in a single season (1,164 in 1990\u201391) and the highest assists-per-game average for a season (14.54 in 1989\u201390).<\/p>\n

Those numbers make John Stockton the NBA\u2019s all-time assists leader by a wide margin. The point guard totaled 15,806 assists over his 19-year career with the Jazz. In second place is Chris Paul, who currently sits at 12,499, making him the top active player in that category.<\/p>\n

Jason Kidd was an elite passer, too<\/p>\n

For years, Jason Kidd was the closest challenger to John Stockton in the assist rankings\u2014until Chris Paul passed him during the 2024\u201325 season. In his 19 NBA seasons, the legendary point guard totaled 12,091 assists across stints with the Dallas Mavericks, Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets, and New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

That figure places Kidd third on the all-time list, behind only Stockton and Paul. In addition, the two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA led the NBA in assists five times\u20141999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2004. With the exception of his final title, all those seasons overlapped with Stockton\u2019s career, which further underscores Kidd\u2019s remarkable consistency and skill.<\/p>\n

SurveyWas Stockton the greatest passer in NBA history?<\/p>\n

Was Stockton the greatest passer in NBA history?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before becoming head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, Jason Kidd was one of the most accomplished players in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3793],"tags":[7,686,149,4057,3716,7011,166,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-51174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-mavericks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-mavericks","11":"tag-dallasmavericks","12":"tag-jason-kidd","13":"tag-john-stockton","14":"tag-mavericks","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114555149597765199","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}