MVPs: 0. Finals MVPs: 0. All-NBA 1st Team: 4. 2nd Team: 4. 3rd Team: 1. All Star: 11. MVP: 1.
Defensive POY: 0. All-Defense 1st Team: 7. 2nd Team: 2.
Assists Champ: 4. Steals Champ: 6. FT% Champ: 1.
Career Averages: 18 PPG/ 4 RPG/ 9 APG/ 2.1 SPG/ .1 BPG/ .521 eFG%/ .872 FT%.
Best Season: 23/ 5/ 11/ 2.8/ .1/ .528/ .868 (2008-09).
Postseason Averages: 21 PPG/ 5 RPG/ 8 APG/ 2.1 SPG/ .2 BPG/ .532 eFG%/ .847 FT%.
Best Postseason: 24/ 5/ 11/ 2.3/ .2/ .514/ .785 (2008).
Championships: 0. Runner-ups: 0.
Why he's below John Stockton: These two are nearly identical for me. Stockton has a slight edge because of longer career, higher totals, and his two Finals appearances. Unless Paul loses in the first round this year and then retires, he will pass Stockton very soon.
Why he's above the rest: If you liked Stockton's numbers, Paul has him beat in a lot of ways. His 3.92 assists per turnover is even better than Stockton's. Paul and Stockton are the only players in NBA history to lead the league in APG and SPT in the same season. Stockton did it 2 times; Paul did it 3 times. Paul's league-adjusted eFG% and true shooting percentages are both a lot better than Stockton's. Paul has twice as many 1st Team All-NBA appearances as Stockton. Stockton's highest MVP finish was 7th; Paul has finished top-7 in MVP voting 8 times (and likely a 9th time in 2021). And though both players are good defenders, Paul made 1st Team All-Defense 7 times; Stockton only had 5 2nd Team appearances. I think that if you agree Stockton should be ranked this high, there's really no good argument against Paul being at least this high as well.
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