Last night, Chris Paul has exceeded Jason Kidd in the ranking of the best passers in history (in the regular season). With his 10 assists against the Pelicans, the Spurs playmaker reached 12,099 career assists, leaving behind the current “head coach” of the Mavericks, stuck at 12,091 assists.
At 39 years old, he still remains very far from first place in NBA history, held by John Stockton (15,806), which seems impossible to achieve. There are thus 3,707 assists difference, or more than 436 matches at the current rate of “CP3”. So we’re talking about more than five full seasons…
From PJ Brown to Victor Wembanyama
If we take the playoffs into account, Chris Paul has even distributed 13,334 assists in his career. In this ranking, he is still behind Jason Kidd (13,354) and still very far from the first place of John Stockton (17,645). But to whom has the “Point God” distributed all his assists in his career?
For your information, his first assist was made on November 1, 2005. It was for PJ Brown, low post against Brad Miller, during the meeting between the Hornets and the Kings.
His latest is for Victor Wembanyama, for the 3-point victory against the Pelicans. Enough to summarize the entire evolution of the Great League over the last twenty years, but also the longevity of Chris Paul, while PJ Brown has just celebrated his 55th birthday, when “Wemby” will be 21 in January!
In total, Chris Paul “assisted” 174 teammates and, unsurprisingly, these are his preferred pick-and-roll partners, Blake Griffin (1,318) and David West (1,188) who received the most offerings from the leader.
The Lakers and the Spurs, first opponents
With 52 baskets following passes from CP3, Victor Wembanyama is already 57th in the ranking, between Wesley Johnson (54) and Stephen Curry (51).
Also note that it was against the Lakers (766) that Chris Paul distributed the most assists, ahead of the Spurs (685) and the Kings (665). At the bottom of the ranking, we inevitably find teams from the East, with Orlando (220), Atlanta (248), Philadelphia (249) and Toronto (257), teams that he has rarely faced each season.
As for the distribution of his assists by franchise, we can note that it is almost evenly shared between the LA Clippers (4,485) and New Orleans (4,484).
