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The Hall of Famer still sits down and watches his old team, from time to time, from the comfort of his own home.
"They have talent. They have youth," John Stockton, the legendary point guard, said Wednesday morning when asked about this iteration of the Utah Jazz. "I think the sky's the limit for them if they continue to build."
And with Stockton and most of the other members of the Jazz's 1997 NBA Finals squad in attendance, there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of franchise's best team ever, the new Jazz gave the old guard something to cheer about Wednesday.
The Jazz beat the New York Knicks, 108-101, at Vivint Smart Home Arena, behind a career-high 35 points from Rudy Gobert.
The Jazz trailed by as much as 13 in the first half. But when Gobert flushed a fast-break dunk in the final seconds of the second quarter, the Jazz had trimmed the lead to 55-51.
That's when Stockton, Hall of Fame coach Jerry Sloan, and a handful of others from the '97 squad gave the fans in Salt Lake City something to really cheer about.
Coaches, staffers and nine of the 12 players from that team, with former MVP Karl Malone the most notable absence, were honored during a 15-minute presentation at halftime.
The past few days have been emotional for the former Jazzmen, as they have reconnected with Sloan, who a year ago revealed he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.
Asked what it had meant to see his "old team" again, Sloan, shaking slightly during a press conference, first joked and then became more serious.
"I don't like to be old. That's the first thing," he said with a chuckle. Then he added, "You realize that this is the end of the road pretty much for you. Playing, coaching, and I've been lucky I've been able to stick around as long as I have been."
But, as Stockton said, it had also been a chance to "relive one of the greatest times of our lives."
"We're all proud to be part of the Utah Jazz family," Stockton told the fans during the halftime celebration, "and we're going to root for this team to take it all the way."
First, however, the Jazz would try to get past Jeff Hornacek's New York Knicks. The Knicks entered the game with a 27-43 record, but they wouldn't roll over for the Jazz on Wednesday.
Utah looked out of sorts early in its first game back from an Eastern road trip. After kicking off their four-game road swing with a win in Detroit, the Jazz dropped three straight in Chicago, Cleveland and Indianapolis. Head coach Quin Snyder, however, wasn't panicking.
"If I recall, the last time we played here, against the Clippers, we looked pretty good," he said before the game. "In the span of one road trip to the east, the identity of our team hasn't changed."
The Jazz found themselves again Wednesday, improving to 44-28 on the season and inching closer to clinching their spot in the postseason.
For New York, Kristaps Porzingis finished with 24 points and seven rebounds. Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony had 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Gordon Hayward scored 19 points and George Hill had 15 for Utah.
Gobert, meanwhile, was sensational. The 7-footer dominated on both sides of the floor. He finished with 13 rebounds and four blocks to go with his career-high 35 points, which came on 13-of-14 shooting.
That probably didn't surprise Stockton all that much.
"Rudy is a force," the Hall of Famer had said.
Twitter: @aaronfalk —
Storylines
R Rudy Gobert becomes the seventh player in the past 30 seasons to score 35 or more points in a game and shoot at least 90 percent.
• The Jazz go on a 13-2 fourth quarter run to turn a tie game into a 98-87 lead.