The story is decidedly cruel. Born on July 24, 1963, Karl Malone will have spent his entire life as an NBA player chasing after a title he never won. His daughter Cheryl Ford won on her first attempt at the WNBA with the Detroit Shock in 2004… That same season, we can’t imagine the NBA title escaping the “Fantastic 4” of Los Angeles. With a Payton-Bryant-Malone-O’Neal quartet, the Lakers must necessarily get their hands on the trophy. This is without counting on the Pistons who will give a collective lesson to the whole basketball planet.
Already beaten twice in the Finals during his stay at the Jazz, Karl Malone will therefore never win a champion ring either. An injustice for one of the best 4 in history, a notch below the young retiree Tim Duncan in this position, and perhaps a hair above Nowitzki, McHale or even Garnett and Barkley.
A reputation as a “dirty player”
When he arrived in the League in 1985 as the 13th draft pick, Malone was not yet playing big. He arrives from Louisiana Tech with very decent stats but nothing out of the ordinary: 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds after three years of college. John Stockton, drafted a year earlier by Utah, quickly gets to know the guy. With these two, Jerry Sloan is the perfect performer of pick and roll. “Stockton to Malone” will be the timeless Jazz hit for 13 years. The brilliant smuggler that is Stockton gives Malone caviars. “The Mailman” (the Postman) only has to post the missives. The formula may be devoid of genius but it is terribly effective. She sends Utah to the NBA Finals twice against the Bulls. Unfortunately, the Stockton-Malone pair cross paths with the best basketball player of all time.
A member of the famous “Dream Team” in 1992 in Barcelona, Malone can console himself with a now legendary Olympic title (he was also part of the 1996 adventure in Atlanta). But there are not necessarily many who want to talk about the good old days with him, because this authentic loudmouth has not only made friends on the circuit… Built like a mover, the native of Summerfield (Louisiana) has shown himself capable of the worst abuses throughout his career. His specialty: the dirty play that hurts, very badly, with the knee or the elbow forward… In the Jazz uniform, Malone collected the baskets like the bad shots, and Isiah Thomas will be off for 47 stitches! Nothing that can cure the popularity rating of a particularly unloved franchise across the Atlantic.
An obstacle: Michael Jordan and the Bulls
At the height of his glory, in 1997, King Karl already had 25,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. The Jazz show up in the playoffs with a record of 64 wins for only 18 losses. This first MVP title is not even disputed by Michael Jordan who gives him an appointment in the NBA Finals. In a closed double-round series, Malone, who has become accustomed to going to the gym on a bike, proves to be the Jazz’s best offensive asset (23.8 pts) but a sick Jordan comes to calm everyone in Salt Lake City during Game 5 (Bulls victory 90-88). The series will end with a 4-2.
The remake takes place the following season with the same protagonists. Malone has lost none of his toughness in defense and his aggressiveness in attack. But once again, Jordan and the Bulls impose their relentless domination. The shot of “MJ” on the head of Bryon Russell (so to speak since this one, caught on the wrong foot, is on the ground) in Game 6 in Salt Lake City goes down in history. Chicago won 87-86. To Jordan the eternal glory, to Malone the crossing of the desert. He will have to wait six years before returning to the Finals.
The faithful accomplice of John Stockton wins a new title of MVP of the League at the end of the 1998-99 season, chopped by the lockout following the demands of the players who are demanding an overall improvement in salaries. Malone “fell” to 23.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in a shortened championship (50 games) but he was the most consistent in a franchise that has lost only 13 games. The Jazz experienced a big flop in the Conference semi-finals against Portland (2-4). It’s the beginning of the end for Utah, which is disappearing from the strongholds of the Western Conference. The double Olympic champion will spend another four years in Salt Lake City. Enough to inscribe his name in the Jazz record books. Points, rebounds, matches started, minutes played, free throws attempted and successful: these are all categories stamped with its seal.
In tears at the Hall of Fame
When Stockton retired in 2003, Malone no longer had the same feeling with his lifelong franchise. The call of the foot of Shaquille O’Neal in Los Angeles does not leave him insensitive. Impossible to say no to a team crowned champions three times in a row at the start of the decade. The failure that follows is all the more bitter. Injured, Malone will not even finish the Final against Detroit. Replaced by the very obscure Stanislas Medvedenko, “the Mailman” left the stage looking gloomy after a third disaster. “I will always consider myself a Jazzman”explains the strong bodybuilder winger who had more enemies than friends in the NBA.
Today, we hear little about Malone, and he recently refused to appear in “The Last Dance“. It is still in Salt Lake City that we find him today to take care of the young interiors of Jazz. A part-time role that allows him to continue hunting game and walking around on a large cube.
He just got out of his “postman” truck to receive the famous Hall Of Fame jacket. That day, in tears, he moved the whole basketball world.
AWARDS
MVP: 1997, 1999
All Star : 14 times
All-Star game MVP: 1989, 1993
Olympic champion : 1992, 1996
All NBA First Team : 11 times
All-Defensive First Team : 1997, 1998, 1999
All Rookie Team : 1986
Number of career points: 36,928 (2nd in history)
Career averages : 25 pts, 10.1 rebounds, 3.5 pds/m
