Welcome to Greatest Rivals!
Each Wednesday, this page will pitch two great rivals against each other to finally find out who the real winner is! Over the coming weeks, this page will cover many great rivalries, from the glory of el Clasico to the back and forth action of some of Wimbledon's finest performers.
Wednesday 10th March - John Stockton vs Magic Johnson
As point guards go, John Stockton and Magic Johnson are poles apart. Stockton is the epitome of what a point guard should be; the ever-running engine that is an extension of a coaches vision. On the other hand, Magic is ultimately the most diverged the point guard position has ever become. At 6'9", he produced entire highlight reels that other point guards couldn't even replicate on the latest 2K. Despite their differences, each player produced a career worthy of the Hall of Fame, but when put head to head, who comes out on top?
John Stockton is at the very top of a long list of Hall of Famers that didn't win an NBA Championship during his career. But don't let that taint your view of this 10-time NBA All-Star as his chances of a ring were scuppered by the Jordan era. Pure point guard genius is the words that best describe the Gonzaga alum and after being drafted 16th overall in the 1984 draft, he began a stellar 19 year NBA career with the Utah Jazz. By his retirement in 2003, he held all-time records in assists (15,608) and steals (3,265), both of which by some margin. However, it does help if you have Karl Malone on the same team! This famous duo was the closest to knocking off his Airness and pushed the Bulls to 6 games in both the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals.
Magic Johnson is part of a forgotten era in the NBA. His Laker success was slightly overshadowed by the success of Jordan's Bulls during the 1990s. Nevertheless, Magic Johnson holds the deeds to 5 NBA Championships and a legendary rivalry against the great Larry Bird. As a 12-time NBA All-Star, 3-time MVP, and 3-time Finals MVP, the list of accomplishments is definitely in Magic's favour, and so is his ability to perform as a human highlight reel. He may not have the assist numbers that Stockton racked up, but he certainly did it with more flair, throwing the ball around like a yo-yo before delivering it perfectly into the hands of his team-mates. Like Stockton, Magic was a lifetime loyal to the team that drafted him and spent his 17 year NBA career as a Laker. Unfortunately, Magic was sidelined from 1991-1995 after contracting HIV, from which he recovered and returned to complete a final year with the Lakers in 1996. Who knows, with these years back, may he have put more pressure on Stockton's assist and steal totals? History will never reveal.
In terms of determining who is better, it depends on what you want out of a point gaurd. If you want reliability and consistency, money tells you to take John Stockton. However, if you want a player that on any given night, can play any position to an All-Star calibre level, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone better in NBA history than Magic Johnson. Without his illness, I feel his career would have told a much different story and he may have even taken a few Championships out of the famed Bulls dynasty, but in the years he did play, not only did he prove himself to be a better overall player than John Stockton, but one of the NBA's greatest of all time.
What illness did he suffer with Cambridge ??
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