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ESPN Senior Writer- Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
- Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
- Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
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ESPN Staff Writer- ESPN.com NBA analyst since 2010
- ESPN.com Insider researcher in 2009
- Developer of NBA DRAFT Initiative database
Ten thousand assists, the milestone Steve Nash reached on Tuesday night, is a lot of passes. It also means a lot of players on the receiving end of those assists. SBNation.com's Seth Rosenthal joked about the extensive group, but thanks to the wonder that is NBA StatsCube, Tom Haberstroh was actually able to compile the full list of all 124 players Nash has assisted among his 10,005 (and counting) career assists.
You can check out a visual of Nash's most frequent targets below, but here are some highlights:
The player on the other end of the most Nash assists was, naturally, former pick-and-roll partner Amar'e Stoudemire, the only player to top 1,000 assists (1,155). That means Nash has more assists just to Stoudemire than his replacement in Phoenix, Goran Dragic, has in his entire career (1,124).
Nash might still be most connected to Dirk Nowitzki (797), who checks in third after Shawn Marion (823). But because Nowitzki has the ability to create his own shot, he never got 200 assists from Nash in a single season, a mark Marcin Gortat reached last season despite the lockout-shortened season.
The most amusing group might be the 10 players Nash assisted precisely once. It includes not only Dennis Rodman, during Rodman's short-lived stint with the Dallas Mavericks in 1999-00, but also Sam Cassell (who played 22 games in Phoenix before being dealt to Dallas as part of the package for Jason Kidd) and former Dallas and Brooklyn head coach Avery Johnson.
Naturally, the list also includes one mayor (Kevin Johnson, six; not Fred Hoiberg).
Lakers forward Antawn Jamison wins the award for longest period between Nash assists. He got 107 as a member of the Mavericks in 2002-03, plus two so far this season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nash has assisted 27 All-Stars: Cassell, Jamison, Johnson, Kidd, Marion, Nowitzki, Rodman, Stoudemire, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Michael Finley, Pau Gasol, Tim Hardaway, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Josh Howard, Juwan Howard, Joe Johnson, Christian Laettner, Danny Manning, Antonio McDyess, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Redd, Clifford Robinson, Nick Van Exel, Antoine Walker and Metta World Peace.
