Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers guards Chris Paul of the LA Clippers during a 121-120 Clipper win at Staples Center on Dec. 12, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo : Getty Images/Harry How)
Los Angeles Clippers star guard Chris Paul is only in his 12th year in the National Basketball Association but he is already in the top 10 of the all-time assists leaders in league history by passing Rod Strickland. The question, however, is will Paul break the 15,806 assists record of NBA legend John Stockton?
'The Point God,' which needed six assists to breach the 8000-assist mark, needed just a quarter to achieve the feat by feeding a Marreese Speights' dunk with a little over a minute left in the first quarter against the Miami Heat on Sunday. Paul capped the game with 19 points, 18 assists and only one turnover en route to a 98-86 win for the Clippers.
By the pace Paul is going, he could overtake Jason Kidd for second on the all-time assists list early on in the 2022-23 season when he will be 37 years old, USA Today reported. It would be hard to dethrone Stockton from the top as the former Utah Jazz star guard played in all 82 regular season games in 16 seasons of his 19-year NBA career. Paul has only done that feat 11 times.
Doing the math, Paul, who has played in 87 percent of regular season games and is averaging 9.9 assists per game, would need to play until 42 years old to potentially pass Stockton in the list. That would make him the oldest point guard to play in the NBA, eclipsing Bob Cousy who played until he was 41.
This is not just the lone assist milestone in Paul's career. On Dec. 11, 2016, he made NBA history by delivering 20 assists against the New Orleans Pelicans without committing a single turnover. Also, CP3 is the third-fastest player in NBA history to reach 15,000 points and 8,000 assists, behind Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson, ESPN reported.
Paul currently averaging 17.7 points, 9.8 assists and 5.3 rebounds this season. Watch the video below to see Paul's 20-point, 20-assist, 0-turnover game:
