Who Has The Most NBA Assist Titles?

The player who has the most NBA Assist titles is former Utah Jazz Point Guard John Stockton. Stockton, now long retired, was able to win the assist title nine times throughout his career. In addition he retired leading the league in NBA assists, a record he still holds to this day.

Stockton and a variety of other players have been great at passing the basketball, and it’s a category that very well might see someone get closer to Stockton as time goes on.

NBA Assist Title Winners by Season

Season	Player	Team	Assists per game
1946–47	Ernie Calverley	Providence Steamrollers	3.4
1947–48	Howie Dallmar	Philadelphia Warriors	2.5
1948–49	Bob Davies	Rochester Royals	5.4
1949–50	Dick McGuire	New York Knicks	5.7
1950–51	Andy Phillip	Philadelphia Warriors	6.3
1951–52	Andy Phillip	Philadelphia Warriors	8.2
1952–53	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	7.7
1953–54	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	7.2
1954–55	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	7.9
1955–56	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	8.9
1956–57	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	7.5
1957–58	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	7.1
1958–59	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	8.6
1959–60	Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	9.5
1960–61	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	9.7
1961–62	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	11.4
1962–63	Guy Rodgers	San Francisco Warriors	10.4
1963–64	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	11.0
1964–65	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	11.5
1965–66	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	11.1
1966–67	Guy Rodgers	Chicago Bulls	11.2
1967–68	Wilt Chamberlain	Philadelphia 76ers	8.6
1968–69	Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	9.8
1969–70	Lenny Wilkens	Seattle SuperSonics	9.1
1970–71	Norm Van Lier	Cincinnati Royals	10.2
1971–72	Jerry West	Los Angeles Lakers	9.7
1972–73	Nate Archibald	Kansas City–Omaha Kings	11.4
1973–74	Ernie DiGregorio	Buffalo Braves	8.2
1974–75	Kevin Porter	Washington Bullets	8.0
1975–76	Slick Watts	Seattle SuperSonics	8.1
1976–77	Don Buse	Indiana Pacers	8.5
1977–78	Kevin Porter	Detroit Pistons New Jersey Nets	10.2
1978–79	Kevin Porter	Detroit Pistons	13.4
1979–80	Michael Ray Richardson	New York Knicks	10.2
1980–81	Kevin Porter	Washington Bullets	9.1
1981–82	Johnny Moore	San Antonio Spurs	9.7
1982–83	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	10.5
1983–84	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	13.1
1984–85	Isiah Thomas	Detroit Pistons	13.9
1985–86	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	12.6
1986–87	Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	12.2
1987–88	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	13.8
1988–89	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	13.6
1989–90	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	14.5
1990–91	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	14.2
1991–92	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	13.7
1992–93	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	12.0
1993–94	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	12.6
1994–95	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	12.3
1995–96	John Stockton	Utah Jazz	11.2
1996–97	Mark Jackson	Denver Nuggets Indiana Pacers	11.4
1997–98	Rod Strickland	Washington Wizards	10.5
1998–99[g]	Jason Kidd	Phoenix Suns	10.8
1999–00	Jason Kidd	Phoenix Suns	10.1
2000–01	Jason Kidd	Phoenix Suns	9.8
2001–02	Andre Miller	Cleveland Cavaliers	10.9
2002–03	Jason Kidd	New Jersey Nets	8.9
2003–04	Jason Kidd* (5)[i]	New Jersey Nets	9.2
2004–05	Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	11.5
2005–06	Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	10.5
2006–07	Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	11.6
2007–08	Chris Paul	New Orleans Hornets	11.6
2008–09	Chris Paul	New Orleans Hornets	11.0
2009–10	Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	11.0
2010–11	Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	11.4
2011–12[j]	Rajon Rondo	Boston Celtics	11.7
2012–13	Rajon Rondo	Boston Celtics	11.1
2013–14	Chris Paul	Los Angeles Clippers	10.7
2014–15	Chris Paul	Los Angeles Clippers	10.2
2015–16	Rajon Rondo	Sacramento Kings	11.7
2016–17	James Harden	Houston Rockets	11.2
2017–18	Russell Westbrook	Oklahoma City Thunder	10.3
2018–19	Russell Westbrook	Oklahoma City Thunder	10.7
2019–20	LeBron James	Los Angeles Lakers	10.2
2020–21	Russell Westbrook	Washington Wizards	11.8
2021–22	Chris Paul	Phoenix Suns	10.8

John Stockton Was Unstoppable

John Stockton played the prime of his basketball career with the Utah Jazz as a teammate to Karl Malone. The two formed an unbelievable pick-and-roll that opposing defenses quite literally couldn’t stop even if they game planned for it. It’s not every day that you get a passer like Stockton and a dominant scorer like Malone on the same team. Stockton was just one of those players that only made a pass down the court when he knew it would work out to their advantage. He wasn’t somebody to just force the ball to his teammates if it wasn’t working. He had eyes on the back of his head and always found the wide-open man. Not only has he been able to win nine different assist titles throughout his career, but he is currently still the all-time assists leader in general. He finished his career with over 15,000 dimes, a stat that is going to be outrageously hard to overcome. All of these assist titles were in consecutive years by the way and saw him average 13.1 dimes a night over the course of 734 total games. During that span, he racked up 9,615 out of his total career assists. Again, that is just over the course of nine years. It’s hard to imagine another player dishing it out like this for an entire nine-year span. The guy literally didn’t fall off in the slightest.

Stocktons Closest Rivals

After Stockton in the assist titles leaderboard, there isn’t much of a gap. However, there is a pretty big gap between players that are currently retired and players still playing that could rise up the rankings. Behind Stockton comes Bob Cousy in second, as he has won eight assist titles. They were over eight straight seasons just like Stockton and he averaged 7.0 dimes a night or better in every single season during that span. Unfortunately, though, he did retire just one title short. After Stockton comes Oscar Robertson at seven titles. Robertson was the first player in league history at the time to average a triple-double and won back-to-back assists titles in his first two years in the league. He later went through another few years with multiple titles by averaging 10.7 assists per game. He’s currently eighth on the league’s all-time assists list. Then just outside the top three comes Chris Paul. CP3 has five Assist titles over his career and he’s still playing to this day. Now, he’s on the back end of his career and likely isn’t going to be capable of moving any further up the list, but it’s impressive nonetheless that he’s this close. After CP3, you have guys like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd tied with Paul at five titles and then Magic Johnson at four of these assists’ titles. If you also happen to be wondering if there is another current player that might be on the right track, there isn’t. Russell Westbrook has three assists’ titles but is in a poor position with the Los Angeles Lakers right now, a position where he isn’t going to be leading the league in dimes. The only other semi-current player in the top-10 in titles is Rajon Rondo with three also. Though he is very much on the end of his career at this point.

Most NBA Assist Titles – all time

Player	Team	Assist Titles	Years
John Stockton	Utah Jazz	9	1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
Bob Cousy	Boston Celtics	8	1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
Oscar Robertson	Cincinnati Royals	6	1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969
Jason Kidd	Phoenix Suns (3) / New Jersey Nets (2)	5	1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
Chris Paul	New Orleans Hornets (2) / Los Angeles Clippers (2) / Phoenix Suns (1)	2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2022
Steve Nash	Phoenix Suns	2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011
Magic Johnson	Los Angeles Lakers	4	1983, 1984, 1986, 1987
Kevin Porter	Washington Bullets (2) / Detroit Pistons (1) / New Jersey Nets (1)	1975, 1978, 1979, 1981
Rajon Rondo	Boston Celtics (2) / Sacramento Kings (1)	3	2012, 2013, 2016
Russell Westbrook	Oklahoma City Thunder (2) / Washington Wizards (1)	2018, 2019, 2021
Andy Phillip	Philadelphia Warriors	2	1951, 1952
Guy Rodgers	San Francisco Warriors (1) / Chicago Bulls (1)	1963, 1967

All-Time Assists Leaders

Now, let’s see how the career numbers stack up in the assists category. Stockton is obviously at the top, setting the bar high with 15,806 assists over 1,504 games played. This evens out to a 10.5 assist per game average. Jason Kidd is second with 12,091 out of 1,391 games with an average of 8.7. To some, him being the closest to Stockton on the list right now might come as a surprise. Then, we have the closest current player in Chris Paul. Paul has 11,069 over 1,164 games and a 9.5 per game average. Nash, Mark Jackson and Johnson all fill in the next handful of spots right between Paul and LeBron James. James has 10,105 out of 1,374 games with 7.4 per game. As you can clearly see through just this small handful of numbers and players, nobody was ever close to Stockton. He’s got at least a 3,000-assist lead over every other person on the list. He’s got about 100 games played more than second place Jason Kidd and yet somehow still finds a way to average double digits in dimes during that stretch. Maybe we might be able to see Paul surpass Kidd if he can play for a few more years, but the chances of that happening at this stage make those odds incredibly slim. He appears to be at the back end of his career, as is the other close player on the list, LeBron James. James can certainly play for a few more years but is seventh right now and 1,000 away from Paul.