‘It’s really all I know’: At 33, David Stockton’s basketball journey rolls on for G League’s Suns
FRISCO, Texas – David Stockton is wrapping up his eighth season in the NBA G League.
Averaging 14.2 points per game for the Valley Suns – the sixth team the 33-year-old former Gonzaga guard has played for since leaving Spokane in 2014 – he said he’s seen the NBA’s feeder league make a nice evolution.
“My first year in Reno, it was whatever gym we could get into for practice. Most of the time, it was a Boys and Girls Club where we’re kicking in the side door, (there’s) not even a wood floor, that clay floor that you’d see,” Stockton said.
“We’re on Diana Taurasi Court right now with 10 hoops and every amenity you could imagine, and a weight room attached. It’s night and day,” said Stockton, who has started 14 of 24 games with the Phoenix Suns’ affiliate, which plays across town in Tempe and practices at the Phoenix Mercury’s team facility, the WNBA team owned by the Suns.
“The facilities are probably the best I’ve seen in the G League. It’s an NBA facility. We get food and we’re treated pretty well,” said Stockton, whose career started with the Reno Big Horns – who later relocated to Stockton, California – followed by stops with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Memphis Hustle and the South Bay Lakers. He also played three games with the now-defunct G League Ignite.
In addition to the G League, Stockton has also played in Croatia, New Zealand, Germany and Puerto Rico – destinations that he said broadened his horizons as a person and player.
“The FIBA (international) basketball rules refine your game to a more fundamental level better than playing in the G League or the NBA,” said Stockton, who has played on two U.S. World Cup-qualifying teams. “Going over there, experiencing that, and seeing the talent all over the world, that (also) helped me playing for Team USA with the FIBA rules.”
The son of former Gonzaga great and Hall of Fame guard John Stockton, David walked on at GU after graduating from Gonzaga Prep in 2009, showed an undaunted work ethic to earn playing time and ended his collegiate career by helping Gonzaga win the 2014 West Coast Conference Tournament.
“Well, I’d always wanted to go there. I loved watching the teams in the late ’90s make their runs and was a huge fan,” Stockton said.
“Then, when we’d go home for summer, we’d work out with all those guys. I really fell in love with the place,” he said. “But to be honest, they’re really the only team that wanted me to do anything, walk on or otherwise.”
Stockton said he visited a couple of NAIA schools, but nothing materialized.
“Gonzaga, especially with Tommy Lloyd at that time, was just like, ‘I think there’s a chance here. Let’s walk on and see what happens. You can always go down a level if it doesn’t work out and not have to sit out.’ “
Of course, things worked out pretty well for Stockton as a Zag, a progression he credits largely to the tough love which GU head coach Mark Few showed him.
“Early on as a walk-on, he made it tough,” Stockton said. “Maybe I didn’t like that as much. Maybe I wanted to play a bit more and have things come to me a bit easier, but I don’t think I’d be where I’m at today without the way he pushed me and forced me to figure out who I was and how to help the team in a way that would get me on the court.”
That perseverance is a trait shared by all of the Stockton siblings. His younger brother Sam recently wrapped up his senior year at Eastern Washington, and David said he was able to stream several of his games.
“It’s been great, from him coming from (NAIA’s Lewis-Clark State) to working into a starting role this year,” David said “Being able to watch those games, it gives me something to do when I’m by myself out here. It’s been a lot of fun to watch. It’s really all I know honestly, basketball from day one.
“Some of my first memories are with dad, whether we were home in the summer going to Gonzaga and working out, just hanging out with my brothers trying to create a game out of anything, just basketball, basketball, basketball. It’s a good thing we all kind of liked it,” he said.
At 33, he’s the oldest player on the Valley Suns and has taken on a leadership role with the team.
“It’s funny to watch the young guys really pay attention to what I say a little bit more, because once you’ve been in the league for a few years, there’s a couple little things here and there mentally preparation-wise that I might have some insight on,” Stockton said. “I try to help out, especially young players as much as I can.”
With six games of NBA experience (Sacramento in 2015 and Utah in 2018), along with four stints in the NBA Summer League, questions about what it takes to reach the basketball pinnacle are among those asked by young teammates most often, he said.
“Yeah, when it happened (making my NBA debut), it was a dream come true, obviously. I never set out my goals to do that,” he said. “I never thought it was even possible. I thought just walking on at Gonzaga and being part of that team would have been enough for me. To be able to get there and feel like I belong in some rights was just a huge moment. It was great.”
As another G League regular season wraps up this week, Stockton said his love of the game hasn’t dimmed.
“It’s a lot of things. The camaraderie with the guys, being in the locker room and what that brings, the competition aspect of being able to compete and get your mind and body at a really elite physical level, it’s fun,” Stockton said. “Just walking around on the court, your mind is free. All other thoughts clear out when you’re on the court and playing. I’ve enjoyed it.”
Stephen Hunt is a freelance writer based in Frisco, Texas.