Paul feels ‘privileged’ after bringing up 11,000 NBA assists

Chris Paul felt “privileged” to have played with some of the NBA’s best shooters in his career after becoming just the third player to reach 11,000 assists in the league on Sunday.

Devin Booker’s 35-point haul helped the Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Clippers 112-95, with Paul bringing up the landmark against his former team by teeing up Deandre Ayton to dunk.

In doing so, Paul joined John Stockton and Jason Kidd in an exclusive club of players with 11,000 NBA assists, also becoming the first man to amass that many assists as well as 20,000 points in NBA history.

Speaking after the Suns’ win, Paul credited the quality of his teammates and said he was unaware of his achievement until after the game. 

“I’ve been fortunate to play for a while now with a lot of great shooters, great players in general,” he said. “I’m privileged.

“There’s been a lot of firsts here at the Staples Center, well, Crypto Arena. I honestly didn’t have a clue until I checked out of the game.”

Suns coach Monty Williams added: “It’s amazing. I look at him and I’m like, ‘holy smokes, I get to coach Chris Paul’.”

Paul, who also has the most assists for the Clippers in the franchise’s history, finished with seven points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.

The 12-time NBA All-Star has some way to go to top the league’s assist charts, however, with his tally of 11,009 some way short of Stockton’s record of 15,806.