Stockton Selected All-Nba Cracks Top-Five First Team Along With Teammate Malone

For the second year in a row, Utah Jazz guard John Stockton has been voted to the All-NBA first team.

The 33-year-old Spokane resident cracked the top five in voting done by a nationwide media panel - which made Stockton’s Jazz teammate, Karl Malone, the top vote-getter and put San Antonio center David Robinson on the first team ahead of Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal in what could be a preview of the NBA’s most valuable player balloting.

Joining Stockton, Malone and Robinson on the first team are Chicago Bulls forward Scottie Pippen and Orlando guard Anfernee Hardaway.

On the second team along with O’Neal were Seattle teammates Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, Phoenix forward Charles Barkley and Sacramento guard Mitch Richmond.

The third team included another Sonic, Detlef Schrempf, along with Houston’s Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, San Antonio’s Dennis Rodman and Indiana’s Reggie Miller.

Stockton, a graduate of Gonzaga Prep and Gonzaga University, had one of his finest NBA seasons in helping the Jazz to a club-record 60 victories - although the team’s failure to make it past the first round of the playoffs was one of his biggest disappointments.

In midseason, Stockton broke the NBA career record for assists eventually topping the 10,000 mark.

His average of 12.3 assists per game led the league for an eighth consecutive season, tying a record established by Bob Cousy.

The 6-foot-1 point guard also averaged 14.7 points and 2.4 steals (fourth in the NBA), while making 54.2 percent of his field-goal attempts - narrowly missing the top 10 in that category.

Sometime next season, he also figures to become the NBA’s all-time leader in steals, as well.

In addition to his two times on the All-NBA first team, Stockton has been selected to the second team five times and third team once.

Malone was the leading vote-getter with 519 points, followed by Robinson (479), Pippen (451), Stockton (447) and Hardaway (394). It was Malone’s seventh selection to the first team, the third time for Robinson, second for Pippen, and first for Hardaway.

Malone, Robinson and O’Neal were the only players named on all 105 ballots.

Michael Jordan received seven first-team votes and 44 points.