Stephen Bunting believes Luke Littler can end his career as the greatest darts player of all time, even if he doesn’t win as many titles as the legendary Phil Taylor. Littler had been on course for a clean sweep of the 2026 ranking events before a shock exit at the World Series of Darts Finals in Amsterdam. The world No 1 had won the first six premier events of the season after following his World Championship triumph at Alexandra Palace in January with the World Masters, UK Open, Premier League, World Cup of Darts and World Matchplay.
Littler was hoping to add the World Series of Darts Finals, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals trophies to complete a historic monopoly over the year - but lost to Jonny Clayton in the quarter-finals. Despite defeat, many experts are already predicting the 19-year-old becoming the greatest player the sport has ever seen - including Bunting. "I do," the 41-year-old told Sky Sports News when asked if he thinks Littler can end his career as the greatest darts player ever.
"I think he's got a lot more to give the sport." However, Bunting believes darts legend Taylor, who retired in 2018, will still have the edge over Littler when it comes to the number of titles won. "I think he'll win a lot more world titles, but I don't think he'll win as many as Phil," he said. "The standard of play is a lot better than in Phil's day.
"But [Littler] is someone who has changed our sport. He's brought the [age] demographic of the sport down. If you ask people who a darts player is, they all say Luke Littler, that's how powerful his name is." Bunting did admit, however, that he would rather leave the debate over who is the best to Taylor and Littler themselves.
"I think certainly Luke's ceiling is phenomenal," he continued. "Based on his ceiling he is the best player in the world. Phil 'The Power' Taylor won 16 World Championships - you can't take that away from Phil.
"If Phil tells me he's the best darts player in the world, he's the best darts player in the world. I'll leave it for them to discuss. I'd be happy to win one or two world titles, but Luke is smashing it already.
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