NBA: The 30 best trios in league history

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Jeff Hornacek, John Stockton and Karl Malone (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) /

Best trios in NBA history: 22. John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, and Karl Malone

Malone: 26 ppg, 10.2 rpg
Stockton: 13.6 ppg, 10.4 apg, 1.9 spg
Hornacek: 14.6 ppg, 4.2 apg
Finals record: 0-2
Time together: 1994-2000

Contrary to popular belief, just became you have three great players on one team, it doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to win it all. Case in point would be the Utah Jazz.

There isn’t a single credible list that can be formed that doesn’t have John Stockton ranked somewhere as a top ten point guard of all time. The same can be said for the power forward position and Karl Malone. Not so much for Jeff Hornacek from the shooting guard position, but he was still one helluva player. The trio played for six and a half seasons had all sorts of success.

Even with the likes of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and several other all-timers playing in the same era, Malone led the league in win shares during those six and a half years. Stockton wasn’t too far by behind and dished out more assists than any other player during that stretch. Hornacek was less prolific, but he was a double-digit scorer and had a true shooting percentage of 59.4.

There was nothing anyone could do to stop the pick and roll of Stockton and Malone. If for some reason, the defense had a trick or two up their sleeves, Stockton would just kick it out to a wide-open Hornacek who routinely knocked in over 40% from distance. It was truly a pick your poison situation for the defense.

In all, the Jazz won over 70% of their games during that stretch and made two Finals appearances. If they hadn’t run into Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in back-to-back seasons, there’s a good chance they would’ve nabbed an NBA title, which would have vaulted them up this list.