Long-time NBA star, Karl Malone, retires
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – As much as Karl Malone wanted to win an NBA title, he just didn’t have the desire to play a 20th season. Malone officially announced his retirement Sunday, ending his career where it started when the Utah Jazz selected him with the 13th pick in the 1985 draft.
“Even though I left for a year, I grew here as a Jazz man,” Malone said at a news conference at the Delta Center. “If I’m fortunate enough to go into the Hall of Fame, I will go as a Jazz man.”
The 41-year-old finishes second on the NBA’s career scoring list with 36,928 points, just 1,459 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Malone met with the San Antonio Spurs last week and was considering a return, hoping for one more chance at a championship ring, but he decided that mentally he couldn’t play at the level that made him one of the best ever in the league.
Malone had knee surgery last summer and said he was fully recovered from the injury that forced him to miss half of last season. But his mind wasn’t up to returning to basketball.
“When I got on that plane, I knew I was done. That it was time,” Malone said. “I look at basketball as 100 percent physically and 100 percent mentally. And if I can’t bring you 200 percent, from me, I can’t bring you anything.”
Malone said he wanted to keep from getting too emotional, and he succeeded – even when recalling Utah’s glory days of the 1990s. Sitting on platform with his wife, Kay, Jazz owner Larry Miller and coach Jerry Sloan, Malone thanked the Jazz for picking him after 12 teams had passed.
An avid outdoorsman, Malone sported a cowboy hat and T-shirt. He still looked to be in great shape, showing that he hasn’t let up on the relentless workouts that allowed him to play into his 40s.
The news conference was packed with reporters, some fans and a few former teammates who came to say goodbye to the certain Hall of Famer.
Malone was the league’s MVP in 1997 and ’99. One of the most durable players ever, Malone is also second only to Abdul-Jabbar’s 57,446 minutes played with 54,852.
Malone’s 14,968 rebounds rank him sixth all-time and he also was a 14-time All-Star selection, winning the game MVP in 1989 and sharing it with longtime teammate John Stockton in 1993.