He passes Isiah Thomas. Get it?

 

Chris Paul had another stellar All-Star game last night. Of course, the focus was on Kobe Byrant, who is retiring. LeBron James also took the spotlight given that he now has the records for career points in the All-Star game (in front of Kobe!) Finally, Westbrook earned the All-Star MVP, rightfully I'll add. The player that impressed me though was Chris Paul.

Chris Paul put up a sixteen assist game, which was impressive for many many reasons

• It's the first sixteen plus assist All-Star game since John Stockton's seventeen assist All-Star game in 1989.
• It moves Chris Paul into second all-time career All-Star game assists behind Magic Johnson and in front of Isiah Thomas. (127 to 106 to 97)
• He becomes the second player to put up back-to-back fifteen plus assist All-Star games. Magic Johnson did this three times from 1984 to 1986.
• He is now the only player with seven double-digit All-Star assist games.
• He keeps the second-longest double-digit assist streak in All-Star history going. From 2012 on, Chris Paul has put up at least twelve assists in the last five All-Star games for a total of 71 assists. From 1983 to 1998 Magic Johnson put up six consecutive All-Star games of double-digit assists. 

Now, even if Chris Paul passes Magic Johnson's career All-Star assists, I'd still have to consider Magic Johnson the most prolific All-Star passer. However, the fact that Chris Paul is even in the conversation is kind of absurd. Lots of attention is paid to the scorers. What else is new? That said, we think lots of things make players stars around here, and Chris Paul's passing certainly gets our vote. Here's hoping for two more years!