The Tape
Was John Stockton better than Jayson Tatum?
John Stockton, 1984-2003, against Jayson Tatum, 2017-present. The numbers levelled to one league, then the call.
Method, stated plainly: scoring is adjusted to a league averaging 114 points per team per game. Rebounds and assists are printed as they were recorded, with the league scoring rate beside them, because a rebound in 1962 came out of a different number of missed shots and we will not pretend one multiplier fixes that. Career lines for active players run through 2024-25.
What the numbers say
Adjusted to a league averaging 114 points a game, Jayson Tatum is the bigger scorer: 29.9 a game in 2022-23 against 18.3 for John Stockton in 1989-90. That is a real gap of 11.6 points, not an era illusion — Jayson Tatum's league averaged 114.7 and John Stockton's averaged 107.
Jayson Tatum wins the glass by 6.2 rebounds a game (8.8 to 2.6), which in his era meant standing in traffic rather than waiting for a long one.
John Stockton is the passer: 14.5 assists a game to 4.6, and that is the difference between running an offense and finishing one.
John Stockton: The all-time leader in assists and steals, by margins that will not be closed this century. Jayson Tatum: A title, 7 straight conference finals appearances, and a 3-point volume no forward of the 1990s could have imagined.
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