HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – Steve Nash is just five assists from being the fifth player in NBA history to reach the 10,000-assist mark. He’ll likely reach the milestone when his Lakers visit the Houston Rockets on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, NBA TV).
Most assists, NBA history
| Player | GP | AST | AST/G |
| John Stockton | 1,504 | 15,806 | 10.5 |
| Jason Kidd | 1,345 | 11,969 | 8.9 |
| Mark Jackson | 1,296 | 10,334 | 8.0 |
| Magic Johnson | 906 | 10,141 | 11.2 |
| Steve Nash | 1,161 | 9,995 | 8.6 |
| Oscar Robertson | 1,040 | 9,887 | 9.5 |
| Isiah Thomas | 979 | 9,061 | 9.3 |
| Gary Payton | 1,335 | 8,966 | 6.7 |
| Rod Strickland | 1,094 | 7,987 | 7.3 |
| Andre Miller | 1,080 | 7,683 | 7.1 |
In his 17-year career, Nash has assisted 123 different teammates, none more than Amar’e Stoudemire. And most of those assists to Stoudemire were on buckets in the paint. Most of his 797 assists to Dirk Nowitzki, however, were on buckets from outside the paint.
Most assists from Steve Nash, with shot location
| Player | AST | Paint | Mid-range | 3PT |
| Amar’e Stoudemire | 1,155 | 80% | 19% | 0% |
| Shawn Marion | 823 | 69% | 12% | 18% |
| Dirk Nowitzki | 797 | 30% | 42% | 28% |
| Michael Finley | 626 | 37% | 31% | 33% |
| Grant Hill | 593 | 56% | 34% | 10% |
There are nine different players who have received exactly one assist from Nash. Among them: Avery Johnson, Sam Cassell and Dennis Rodman.
The two most efficient shots are shots from the restricted area (1.18 points per shot over the course of Nash’s career) and corner 3-pointers (1.15 points per shot). And over his career, 51 percent of Nash’s assists have come from those two areas. That’s a higher percentage than most other All-Star point guards…
Percentage of career assists to high-efficiency areas
| Player | Restricted | Corner 3 | Total |
| Andre Miller | 49% | 5% | 54% |
| LeBron James | 39% | 14% | 53% |
| Steve Nash | 44% | 8% | 51% |
| Rajon Rondo | 39% | 9% | 48% |
| Deron Williams | 43% | 5% | 48% |
| Tony Parker | 32% | 16% | 48% |
| Chris Paul | 38% | 9% | 47% |
| Jason Kidd* | 42% | 5% | 47% |
* Does not include first two seasons of Kidd’s career
Having spent his entire career in the Western Conference, Nash has racked up at least 500 assists against four different teams in the West.
Steve Nash – Most assists by opponent
| Opponent | GP | AST | AST/G |
| Sacramento | 57 | 541 | 9.5 |
| Golden State | 59 | 528 | 8.9 |
| L.A. Clippers | 60 | 522 | 8.7 |
| Minnesota | 53 | 500 | 9.4 |
| Vancouver/Memphis | 55 | 494 | 9.0 |
Nash tends to be more of a distributor early in the game. His highest assist ratio (percentage of his possessions in which he records an assist) is highest in the first quarter and lowest in the fourth.
Steve Nash – Assists by quarter
| Period | MIN | AST | ASTRatio |
| 1st quarter | 10,284 | 3,208 | 40.2 |
| 2nd quarter | 7,914 | 2,171 | 36.9 |
| 3rd quarter | 10,167 | 2,753 | 37.2 |
| 4th quarter | 7,760 | 1,798 | 31.9 |
| Overtime | 340 | 65 | 25.0 |
Nash has recorded his most assists on Wednesdays, but tends to be more giving on Sundays…
Steve Nash – Assists by day of the week
| Day | GP | AST | ASTRatio | AST/G |
| Monday | 124 | 1,094 | 37.7 | 8.8 |
| Tuesday | 196 | 1,643 | 35.9 | 8.4 |
| Wednesday | 203 | 1,842 | 38.0 | 9.1 |
| Thursday | 137 | 1,140 | 36.4 | 8.3 |
| Friday | 190 | 1,592 | 36.8 | 8.4 |
| Saturday | 168 | 1,266 | 33.2 | 7.5 |
| Sunday | 143 | 1,418 | 39.8 | 9.9 |
Well with all the other craziness going on I hope Nash can still take some comfort in getting to this great milestone.
Not a real fan of milestones, but there is one interesting thing I’ve noticed in this article, especially considering comments from his critics these past few years.
Chris Paul’s restricted area percentage: 38
I’ll let that speak for itself.
i guess monday’s are terrible days for Nash too, huh? lol
I wonder where Magic would’ve ended up, all-time.
Congrats to Nash on the obtaining the milestone.
Column headers on the stats tables would help
Congratulations to one of the best pointguards of the NBA, now S.Nash have to score more, to help the Lakers winning games….
a true professional and one of the greatest pg’s to ever lace em up , wish he would’ve signed with the raps instead tho