Vernon Maxwell does not like Utah. He doesn’t like its people, he doesn’t like its basketball team, and he damn sure doesn’t like one of the greatest players to ever put on a Jazz uniform, John Stockton. He’s made this dislike very public in his time, using his social media accounts to constantly mock the state and all things related to it.
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Maxwell appeared on the All the Smoke podcast this week, and for as clear as it was that he cannot stand anything about Utah, what was most enlightening from his interview is that he’s not alone.
Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes corroborated Maxwell’s assessment of Jazz fans, who they all remembered as being the nastiest, most racist fans in the NBA.
Jackson recalled one fan holding up a life-sized cutout of him in a jail cell right under the basket during one playoff game, and the NBA didn’t even do anything about it.
Maxwell recalled the Utah “faithful” yelling horribly racist things at him and his family, which is a story that has been told by other players, as well.
One Jazz fan was banned for life after profanely heckling Russell Westbrook years ago, and that’s just one of the many stories of Jazz fans behaving badly.
Three other Jazz fans were banned in 2021 for going after Ja Morant’s family when the Grizzlies visited.
Maxwell delighted in ripping everything about the Jazz, but he saved his best for Stockton, whom he called “dirty as hell” despite his everyman appearance.
“Stockton dirty as f***. One of the dirtiest f***ing players in the NBA ever,” he said with vitriol.
“This short little mailbox-carrier-looking ass, he’s dirty as hell. He’s a dog, he’s a demon. Just don’t look like that, but he’s nasty as f***. He’s a dirty dog,” he continued, much to the amusement of the podcast producers, who were laughing in the background.
Other players have also called Stockton a dirty player, including Gilbert Arenas, whose career overlapped with Stockton’s for two years.
John Stockton might win a poll for “Dirtiest Player in NBA history”
Arenas said on the Games with Names podcast in 2023 that Stockton was the dirtiest player he played against.
“He’ll pull you, elbow you, knee you, he did all of that,” Gil recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ I’m glad I didn’t play in the ’80s. This isn’t basketball right here.'”
Steve Kerr also once commented on Stockton’s quasi-legal approach to the game. Despite having a great relationship and the utmost respect for the NBA’s All-Time Steals and Assists leader, Kerr said, “He was a dirty b*****d.”
Stockton is an all-time great by any measure, but he also comes from a different, more physical era when players were able to get away with a lot more. Even with that being said, there are enough stories out there that it seems to be indisputable that he took that physicality to an even higher level.
Credit Stockton for being able to leave an impression because, even decades later, his opponents are still talking about him.
