1. John Stockton
This one is going to be pretty easy.
John Stockton was drafted 16th overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1984 NBA Draft and spent all 19 seasons with the Jazz before retiring in 2003 as the NBA’s all-time assists leader totaling a whopping 15,806 assists.
Stockton was a nine-time assist champ and a two-time steals champ. In addition, he made an All-NBA team eleven times and an All-Defensive team five times. To ice the cake, he also won All-Star MVP in 1993 and made the hall of fame in 2009.
John Stockton started his career as a bench-warmer. In his first three seasons, Stockton only started 45 games and averaged 7 points per game along with 6.9 assists. In his first season as the starter, Stockton won the first of his nine consecutive assist titles.
When the 1988-89 season came around, Stockton stepped his game up becoming an All-Star for the first of nine consecutive times.
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Unfortunately for John, his team was never able to win a championship, despite making two NBA Finals.
The NBA’s all-time assist leader tops our list as the greatest 16th pick in NBA history. One of the great steals in NBA history, the Jazz found their franchise point guard outside of what today would be known as the lottery. Showing even the bottom picks (although I would not consider 16 a bottom pick), are capable of turning into legends.