John Stockton

Although he missed the first 18 games of the 1997-98 campaign due to preseason knee surgery, Stockton is renowned for his near-perfect attendance. He played in 609 consecutive games from 1990 through 1997, the 8th longest streak in NBA history. He missed only four games in his first 13 profession seasons, and played in every game in 15 of his 17 seasons. In November 2000, he broke John Havlicek's record of 1,270 games played with a single team.

Overall for his career, by the 2001-02 season, Stockton ranked third all-time in games played at 1,340, just behind Robert Parish's 1,611 and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 1,560. He holds the NBA record for 15,177 assists and 3,128 steals. His career assists average is a record 11.1 apg. In all 17 of his seasons, he participated in the NBA Playoffs.

Continuing his streak with the Utah Jazz, in September 1999 he signed a two-year contract for $22 million. With no hint of retirement in the air, the nearly 40-year-old Stockton signed another two-year, $18 million contract during the 2000-01 season. He is one of only a handful of men who are still playing basketball into their forties. Stockton and his wife, Nada, have six children and own homes in Salt Lake City and Spokane, Washington.