Who is the better NBA PG John Stockton or IsaiahThomas and is it close?

Isiah Thomas is better than John Stockton.

ZEKE, and it is close for sure. Stockton was SO good in his heyday, maybe even a bit UNDERrated

It's Stockton. It may be close based upon the Pistons winning two titles, but when you look at how they played it becomes clear. Thomas was a more flashy player, but he wasn't the floor general that Stockton was. Everyone knows about the steals and assists, but lets take a look at the other major statistics. PPG Isiah 19.2, Stockton 13.1-FG% .452 Isiah, .515 Stockton-3 Pt % .290 Isiah, .384 Stockton-Eff FG % .465 Isiah .546 Stockton-Rebounds Isiah 3.6, Stockton 2.7-FT % Isiah .759, Stockton .826-Win Shares Isiah 80.7, Stockton 207.7.

So to analyze things, Thomas scored more, but also missed a lot more shots. Stockton superior in assists, Stockton superior in steals, Stockton much stronger in FG%, 3 Pt %, and Eff FG%, Thomas the better rebounder, Stockton the better free throw shooter, huge difference in win shares for Stockton. Yes, he had six extra seasons to accumulate them, but average per year was still Stockton 10.9, Thomas 6.2, i.e. Stockton's role netted the Jazz almost 5 more wins per season.

For another consideration, we take a look at head to head records when both played-Jazz 13, Pistons 9.

Another consideration is how each team did in their careers. John Stockton led the Jazz to the playoffs 19 times in 19 seasons. Isiah Thomas led his team to the playoffs 9 times in 13 seasons (missed playoffs first two years and last two years.)

Thomas's only real claim to being better is winning two championships. If you look at the rest, he has no case.

When the NBA chose Stockton to the Dream Team instead of Isiah, they made a great choice.