BEST NBA PASSERS OF ALL TIME
We look to answer the common question: Who is the greatest passer of all time?
Counting down the top 10, players are examined from all eras. The criteria being analyzed include their unique passing skills of course, but also raw assists totals, how that that translated to team success, individual accolades rooted in their playmaking, and finally, passing flair.
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Honorable Mentions
"Pistol" Pete Maravich
The man they called "Pistol Pete" was a 6'5" Hall of Fame two-guard. Maravich spent the entire 1970's carving up defenses with his electrifying dribbling and passing skills.
He was ahead of his time with his handle and vision, stuck in an era where the big man was the dominant species in the NBA. Still, he made an impact with his spectacular passing, a savant with the outlet pass in particular. Pete helped carve out a spot for future skill-heavy guards with non-elite athleticism to meaningfully contribute to an NBA team.
Jason Williams
"White Chocolate" had a lengthy NBA career as a pass-first guard. His NBA tenure was paused by a brief one-year retirement before getting back into the league. He won an NBA Championship with the Miami Heat in 2006.
Williams made his mark by having an insane handle, combined with fearlessness as a passer. Jason would not only attempt some tiny margin for error dimes, he would consistently execute them. Williams also looked to push the pace often and perpetually sought out chances to put pressure on the defense. He had no passing weakness; passing with either hand, or feeding a teammate right off the dribble was no issue for Jason.
Larry Bird
The 6'9" Larry Bird is widely regarded as one of the best players in NBA history. His playmaking was a substantial part of his historically effective game. His strongest areas as a passer were out of the post and right off-the-catch. He had great size to see over people and fire darts where they needed to go.
He was a big part, likely the biggest, of an all-time offense in Boston. Where Larry differed from most superstars was in his unselfishness. Particularly back then, heavy-load-bearing scorers had the crux of their value come from putting the ball in the basket. Bird was elite at that too but supplemented it with incredible off-ball passing. He had a sixth sense in the form of intuitive court awareness.
Larry and his jaw-dropping touch passes plus lightning-quick decision making resulted in many leaderboard appearances. More specifically, he was in the top-20 in total assists during 8 of his 13 seasons. Bird was one of the trail blazers when it comes to harnessing the defensive attention his scoring commanded and allowing teammates to feast off of it.
With that remarkable shot creation for himself and others, Larry earned numerous awards. A couple areas that stick out are 3-time MVP and 2-time Finals MVP. On a team level, his Celtics won a trio of championships across his run wearing the green.
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#10 ~ Mark Jackson
Before his quotable color commentating, Mark Jackson had a 17-year NBA career. The Brooklyn native had long stretches with the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers respectively. Mark was a bulldog at point guard, undersized but tough as nails and a strong floor general.
The NBA was stylistically much different back then, and it was commonplace for point guards to post up some too. His speciality was interior feeds, often with his back to the basket, reading doubles as they materialize in real-time. He slung countless behind the back and no-look feeds to his bigs.
The 6'1" guard closed the door on his NBA journey with a sparkling 8.0 career assists/game mark. That dropped but was a still strong 6.9 per contest during the postseason. The highly durable Jackson piled up a ton of assists in large part thanks to his ability to suit up almost every night. This culminated in being the fourth-highest assist compiler of all time at 10,334. Mark's part of an extremely small group who surpassed the 10K dime threshold.
Comparing his seasons themselves, the St. John's product had a high-point of 11.4 assists a night in 1996-1997. That earned him the assist crown that year. He spearheaded many playoff teams over the years and was a gritty, winning player.
The other major personal accomplishment of Jackson's is his Rookie of the Year award. He played in all 82 games during his inaugural NBA season and averaged a whopping 39.6 minutes per game. That rookie mark of 10.6 dimes/game was an indicator of things to come.
CP3 is the quintessential offensive orchestrator. Chris Paul, listed at 6’0”, has always found a way to make an enormous impact on the game each and every time he steps on the court. Paul contributes in a multitude of ways that meaningfully help his team win ball games.
He has impeccable game awareness at all times and can orchestrate an offense to a level of proficiency that few point guards have ever done. Paul is always playing the game at his own pace, dictating its overall tempo. Chris' bread-and-butter is his pick-and-roll passing.
From his time in New Orleans, to "Lob City" in LA and beyond, loads of lobs and pocket passes have been delivered crisply to his dive men. His ability to slow the game down in his head and make the right delivery at the perfect moment is magnificent and largely unmatched.
Chris has been an 11-time All Star and nine-time All-NBA, fueled by his playmaking prowess. He's led the Association in assists per game over four separate seasons. The North Carolina native peaked at an assist average of 11.6/game in 2007-2008. That came along with, relative to his assist output, an incredible 2.5 turnovers per contest. At the age of 22, that 4.64 assist-to-turnover ratio was immaculate and these shimmering AST/TO ratios would become commonplace within Chris' game.
The fact that Chris Paul-led teams make the playoffs much more often than not is no coincidence. Rather, its a testament to his greatness but more specifically his point god status. Chris simply does what a point guard should - putting his teammates in optimal positions to score the basketball.
#8 ~ Oscar Robertson
Oscar Robertson was a revolutionary player in multiple ways. He became one of the first big-time scorers at guard, coupling that with premier playmaking. He was also one of the first big, strong guards that helped pave the way for more to come in future decades.
At 6'5", Oscar used his height to see over the defense and identify opportunities a smaller player wouldn't see. He could leave his feet and simulate a jumper then switch up in the air into a pass. Roberston was also an interior shovel pass artist, penetrating the defense with his slick handle then finding a familiar big man.
Oscar Robertson led the Association in assists in 1960-1961, 1961-1962, 1963-1964, 1964-1965, 1965-1966 and 1968-1969. Turnovers were not counted back then, but his sheer assist totals remain impressive. It would be foolish not to mention that these dime counts were accrued while also being a lethal scorer. The result is an MVP and a 12-time All Star.
#7 ~ Isiah Thomas
"Zeke" was an extremely talented point guard who spent his entire career as a Piston. He snuck around the opposing defense as a 6'1" speedster. When he wasn't finishing with funky layups or short-range jumpers, Isiah made a smart pass. In his days, interior passing and some tough post entry passes were more emphasized than they are in the modern game. Thomas excelled here, yet his game was not devoid of exciting feeds.
Thomas led the league in assist average in 1984-1985, also leading Detroit to second in their division behind the 59-win Bucks. That average was an insane 13.9 assists per contest. What holds Isiah back from being higher on the list is a relatively short career plus some pretty high turnover rates.
More broadly speaking, Thomas earned many personal and team accolades over his life in the NBA. His playmaking played a huge role here, playing at a time where 6'1" players seldom carried an offense on a given night. Firstly, he was a 12-time All Star and 5-time All-NBA. He was the Finals MVP during Detroit's second championship as a franchise. The year prior, he helped the Pistons secure their first ring.
#6 ~ Nikola Jokić
Nikola is arguably the most gifted legitimate big man passer in the history of the Association. Jokić is a savant with his outlet passes, passes out of the post, and with feeds that lead his cutting teammates into easy buckets - just to name a few. He allows his squad to run an inverted offense with plenty of big-little pick-and-rolls and situations where he simply picks apart a defense from out top.
The 6-11 star's touch passes are otherworldly, having constant full awareness of all his teammates’ respective locations. The high-low passes to men in the key are also crisp and on-target. Regardless of whether he's stationary or moving as he receives the ball, he can fire a quick strike to his teammate.
The sole thing holding 'The Joker' back from being even higher on this list is that he simply does not yet have the number of games under his belt that the other names do.
#5 ~ Jason Kidd
J-Kidd was perhaps the best manipulator off all time. This is meant in the sense that his ability to divert defenders' attention with his mere gaze was virtually unparalleled. The 6'4", 205 lbs. Jason used head fakes, ball deception and look-aways as well as anyone. What separated him from the pack is the fact that he maintained these skills even when moving at high speeds.
As a prolific open court passer, Jason was the delivery man in countless transition highlights. He was the offensive engine over his days with the Mavericks, Suns, Nets and to a lesser degree the Knicks. Across that same timeframe, Kidd earned 10 All Star berths and was a 5-time assist champ.
His combination of playmaking tools and long-term durability has landed him in the two-spot for all time assists. Trailing just John Stockton, Jason's 12,091 dimes are astounding nonetheless. His New Jersey Nets made the finals twice with Jason in his prime, but ultimately he finally got a ring in his 17th NBA season (Dallas).
#4 ~ Steve Nash
The Canadian point guard excelled thanks to his craftiness, supremely high basketball IQ, tireless work ethic and of course, his court vision. At 6'3", 195 lbs. Nash couldn't rely on sheer physical gifts to help him be a passer like the next person on this list. Rather, he had to master angles, varied pass deliveries, playmaking ambidexterity and speed changes. His tight handle and solid speed helped him get where he needed to go to set up teammates.
He was the catalyst for the Suns' famous seven-seconds or less offense. This frenetic pace was made possible by Nash's comfort as a high-functioning playmaker. Phoenix's brass and coaching staff had the confidence in their roster to play this way, but it begins with Nash. His outlet passing was a weapon in these quick-hitter sets and he cultivated beautiful chemistry with Amar'e Stoudemire in particular. Moreover, he may be the best bounce passer to ever step on the court.
Steve's passing was the reason he became an elite player. He developed into a great shooter as well, but few other MVP's in NBA history possessed even close to his playmaking ability. Nash won back-to-back MVP's for his 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 campaigns. Unfortunately, he was never able to break through and win in the Finals.
LeBron is an otherwordly passer. His playmaking toolkit becomes even more noteworthy when one acknowledges that he's 6'9" and has played primarily small forward in his career. His drive-and-kick game is perhaps the best of all time. James' ability to suck in the defense and kick it out to shooters has manifested in hundreds of those invaluable clean catch-and-shoot looks over the years.
LeBron has an uncanny ability to know the strengths of his teammates to a tee. This serves to dictate who to deliver the ball to depending on the personnel surrounding him. Additional elements of LeBron's playmaking toolkit that help him be so dominant are his velocity and the ability to lead a teammate into the shot. With these bullet passes in his arsenal, he can zip them through narrow passing windows with relative ease.
The Akron, Ohio native has finished in the top-15 for total assists in each and every one of his NBA seasons. In Year 17, LeBron James managed to lead the league in dimes for the first time in his illustrious career. James' accomplishments on the hardwood are well-documented but his incredible creation for others can get slightly overshadowed by everything else he does at a high level.
#2 ~ John Stockton
The longtime Jazz man is the number one assist man in NBA history by the numbers. The only thing preventing him from switching spots with the top player on this list is something outside his control, his size. His 6'1", 170 lbs. build actually made it all the more impressive that he achieved the milestones he did in an era of physical, tough basketball.
Any examination of Stockton's facilitation must take note of his on-court relationship with Karl Malone. Their pick-and-roll game was as effective as it was fun to watch. That extraordinary little-big duo led the Utah Jazz to a playoff berth in every single one of Stockton's seasons there. Like many great teams of the late 1980's and through the 1990's, the Jazz were ultimately stymied by Jordan and the Bulls. Regardless, there's nothing John could not do as a floor general.
John is the definition of an iron man on the court. The Hall of Fame lead guard rarely missed games across his 19-year Utah Jazz career. He suited up for all 82 contests in an exceptional 16 of these 19 seasons. Stockton, a 10-time All Star, is far and away the all-time assists leader with his blend of durability and per-game output. John stands alone at the mountaintop with 15,806 assists.
#1 ~ Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson is the greatest passer in NBA history. He was a trail blazer, the first player at his elevated size of 6'9" to be handling and making plays the way he was. Stepping on the court, he immediately had the size, strength and often still the speed advantage over his counterpart. Magic's ability to rip-and-run was uncanny, a deadly threat with his downhill pressure + court vision combo.
Going coast-to-coast was a staple of Johnson's game. He could flat-out rebound like a big forward with a career average of 7.2 boards/night. Magic would proceed to manipulate opposing defenses with his sleight of hand style of play. His goal was clear, break down the defense, get a paint touch and then locate an open teammate.
The numbers strengthen Magic's case for this number one slot. He belongs to the exclusive 10,000 dimes club despite playing just 907 career regular season games. All other members of this group logged over 1,200 games a piece. The first ballot Hall of Famer led the league in assists 4 times and won 5 rings as one of the greatest Lakers to ever lace them up.
