Karl Malone

• 1. Introduction

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  Karl Anthony Malone grew up on a farm in Summerfield, Louisiana, the youngest of nine children raised by a single mother named Shirley. He chopped trees, hunted, and fished as a boy. He would go on to score 36,928 career points in the NBA, a total that ranks third all-time in league history. He holds the record for the most free throws made and the most free throws attempted. He was named to both the NBA 50th Anniversary Team and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He played in 193 playoff games without winning a championship. And somewhere in the gap between those staggering numbers and that single, haunting statistic, the full story of Karl Malone takes shape. Who was the player they called "the Mailman"? What did it cost him to carry Utah to the brink of a title, twice? And what do we make of a man whose personal conduct left questions that championships could never answer?

• 2. Roots and the Road to Utah

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  Shedrick Hay, Malone's father, was married to a different woman and raising another family when Karl was born. He died by suicide when Karl was 14, though Malone did not disclose this publicly until 1994. At Summerfield High School, Malone led his basketball team to three consecutive Louisiana Class C titles from 1979 through his senior season in 1981.

  He was recruited by University of Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton and Louisiana Tech coach Andy Russo. Malone initially leaned toward Arkansas, but when his close friend and teammate Benny Anders chose the University of Houston over Arkansas, the calculus shifted. Malone signed with Louisiana Tech in April 1981, partly because it was closer to home. There was a catch: his grades were too low for freshman eligibility. By the end of his first year he had pushed his GPA to 2.4, qualifying him to play.

  Once eligible, he became impossible to ignore. In his first season with Louisiana Tech, he became the first player in Southland Conference history to be named Outstanding Player and Outstanding Newcomer in the same year. He competed in the 1983 Summer Universiade alongside a fellow future NBA player named Charles Barkley. In his second season he averaged 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. Louisiana Tech finished the 1984-85 season 29-3, won the Southland Conference, and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history, advancing to the Sweet 16. He was an All-Southland selection all three years.

  The Utah Jazz selected him in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft with the 13th overall pick. Malone had been so certain the Dallas Mavericks would take him eighth that he had already rented an apartment in Dallas. Instead, Dallas chose Detlef Schrempf, and Malone landed in Salt Lake City, where he would remain for the next 18 years.

• 3. The Mailman Delivers

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  Under head coach Frank Layden, Malone averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds in his first NBA season and made the 1986 All-Rookie Team. On the 14th of January, 1986, he scored 29 points to help the Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 105-102, snapping the Rockets' 20-game home winning streak. He rallied the team from a 96-89 deficit with just over five minutes remaining.

  By his second season, Malone led the Jazz in both scoring at 21.7 points per game and rebounding at 10.4 per game. Then Jerry Sloan replaced Layden in December 1988, and the Jazz took on a different character entirely. Sloan's scrappy, physical style matched Malone's game. Malone and point guard John Stockton perfected the pick-and-roll until it became the most reliable play in the sport.

  Malone's first All-Star appearance came in 1988, when he was averaging 27.1 points per game. He led the Western Conference with 22 points in that game. At the 1989 All-Star Game he finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists and won his first All-Star MVP award. That same season he signed a 10-year contract worth $18 million and posted his highest scoring average to that point, 29.1 points per game, second in the NBA behind Michael Jordan. He would finish second behind Jordan in scoring again the following two seasons.

  On the 27th of January, 1990, against the Milwaukee Bucks, Malone scored 61 points in a 144-96 victory, making 21 of 26 field goals and 19 of 23 free throws. It was the highest single-game total by any Jazz player since the team relocated from New Orleans to Utah. In a season-long stretch between February and early April of 1987, he was the leading scorer in 24 of the Jazz's 29 games. These were not isolated nights. They were a pattern spanning well over a decade.

• 4. Two Finals, No Ring

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  The 1996-97 season stands as the peak of Malone's statistical and competitive life. He averaged 27.4 points per game, won the NBA Most Valuable Player award for the first time, and helped lead the Jazz to a 64-18 record, the most regular-season wins in franchise history. Utah swept through the Western Conference playoffs, beating the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and then the Houston Rockets in six games, with the final victory coming on a last-second shot by Stockton.

  In the NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls, the first two games went poorly for Malone at the United Center. He shot 6 of 20 for 20 points in Game 2. But the series returned to Salt Lake City and Malone scored 37 points in Game 3 and 23 in Game 4, including a game-winning fast-break layup off a Stockton assist. The Bulls won the next two games and the championship. In Game 6, Michael Jordan stole a pass that had just been thrown to Malone in the post, with 18.9 seconds left and the Jazz ahead 86-85. Jordan's jump shot with 5.2 seconds remaining gave the Bulls an 87-86 lead. Stockton missed the last shot. Jordan's steal has since been described as the greatest shot of his career.

  The following season, Malone averaged 27 points per game and the Jazz posted a 62-20 record, the best in the NBA. Utah swept the Rockets, Spurs, and Lakers en route to a second consecutive Finals. In Game 5, Malone scored 39 points on 17-for-27 shooting, with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1 turnover. Most of those shots came on mid-range turnaround jumpers from the left side. The Jazz won 83-81 in Chicago. One game later, with the series tied 2-2 and the Jazz holding a 66-61 lead after three quarters, they squandered it. Malone scored 31 points and made 11 rebounds in the final game. It was not enough. Jordan's Bulls took their third consecutive title and sixth since 1991.

  Malone played 193 playoff games across his career, more than any player without a championship ring.

• 5. Life Beyond Basketball

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  In November 1998, during the NBA lockout, Malone announced on his Los Angeles radio show that he would demand a trade from the Jazz, citing a lack of respect from owner Larry H. Miller and calling Utah media members "goons." A week later he reversed course. When the shortened season resumed he won his second MVP award, helping the Jazz go 37-13 over 50 games.

  In 2003, after Stockton had retired, Malone became a free agent. He joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04 alongside Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and All-Star point guard Gary Payton. Jersey number 32 had been retired by the Lakers in honor of Magic Johnson, and though Johnson offered to allow Malone to wear it, Malone declined and played in a number 11 jersey instead. On the 21st of December, a knee injury against the Phoenix Suns cost him 39 games. He came back for the playoffs, averaged 11.5 points and 8.8 rebounds, and reached the Finals for the third time. The Detroit Pistons defeated the Lakers in five games. Malone sprained his right knee in Game 3 and played injured before missing the deciding Game 5.

  At a press conference on the 13th of February, 2005, at the Delta Center, Malone officially announced his retirement after 19 seasons. The Jazz retired his number 32 on the 23rd of March, 2006, unveiled a bronze statue outside the arena next to one of John Stockton, and renamed a portion of 100 South in Salt Lake City. The two statues now stand at what is known as the intersection of Stockton and Malone.

  Malone also competed in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics, winning gold medals both years. He and Stockton had both been cut from the national team in 1984, before NBA players were permitted to compete. In 2010, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame twice: once for his individual career and once as a member of the 1992 Dream Team. After retiring from playing, he returned to Louisiana Tech in May 2007 as director of basketball promotion and assistant strength and conditioning coach, and donated $350,000 to the university athletic department.

• 6. The Shadow Over the Record

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  In 1998, a tabloid newspaper reported that Malone had been a defendant in paternity lawsuits filed shortly after he entered the NBA. One of those lawsuits concerned Gloria Bell, who was 13 years old when she gave birth to a son, Demetress, while Malone was a 20-year-old college sophomore. Under Louisiana law at the time, a person under 17 could not consent to sexual activity. No statutory rape charges were filed.

  A court ruled Malone to be Demetress Bell's father, not on the basis of presented evidence, but because Malone did not respond to the lawsuit. A laboratory blood test had concluded with over 99 percent certainty that Bell's father was either Malone or a brother of Malone. Malone challenged the court's ruling and disputed a judgment holding him responsible for $125 per week in child support along with past and future medical expenses. The case was settled on confidential terms before his appeal was decided.

  Demetress Bell went on to play as an NFL offensive lineman for the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys. According to Bell, when they first met shortly after Bell graduated from high school, Malone told him it was "too late" for a father-son relationship. By 2014 the two had begun to repair their relationship, and were in regular contact by 2018.

  Malone also acknowledged paternity of twins Daryl and Cheryl Ford, born when both he and their mother were 17. By the fall of 1998 he had publicly accepted that relationship, and both twins later played college basketball at Louisiana Tech. Cheryl Ford went on to a 10-year professional career with the Detroit Shock of the WNBA.

  In 2018, Malone said of his older children: "I didn't handle it right; I was wrong.... Father Time is the biggest thief that's out there, and you can't get that back." The Athletic, in its ranking of the 75 greatest NBA players published in 2022, placed him 16th all-time.