The basketball term “power forward” wasn’t invented for Karl Malone. He simply fit that description—and that position—the best of anyone in NBA history.
At 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds, Malone was powerful. He also was quick, smart and dependable, which explains his nickname: “The Mailman.”
Throughout his nineteen-year pro career, Malone was one of the NBA’s biggest stars. He won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award twice (1997 and 1999), was voted to the All-NBA team 11 times and twice was the All-Star Game’s MVP, won Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 for the United States, and in ‘96 was selected as one of the 50 greatest players in league history. Karl Malone delivered. And when he was done, he trailed only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in all-time scoring, with 36,928 points.
“Those numbers are way out there and if just a few things changed, he could have put them out there even further,” said Jazz star guard John Stockton, Malone’s long-time teammate.1
Eighteen of those seasons were spent with Stockton on the Utah Jazz, who drafted Malone in the first round, 13th overall, in 1985 out of Louisiana Tech, hardly a basketball powerhouse. But the Jazz saw something special in Malone, and he rewarded them by averaging more than 20 points in seventeen seasons.
Together, Malone and Stockton perfected the pick-and-roll play. The strong Malone would stand near the top of the key, from 15 to 20 feet from the basket. Stockton, the NBA’s career assist leader, handled the ball as Malone stood to block Stockton’s defender. Malone would then roll toward the basket, and Stockton would either shoot if his defender was out of position or, more often, pass to Malone for a layup or a thunderous dunk.
That play, run thousands of times by Malone and Stockton, now is represented by statues of the two players outside the Salt Lake City arena where they made their fame.
“It all worked because of the big fella in the middle,” Stockton said.2
Malone’s No. 32 jersey was retired by the Jazz in 2006 and hangs in the arena’s rafters. It is a reminder of the rugged defense, powerful rebounding, and offensive brilliance he brought to the court.
When you mention a mailman, you don’t normally think about a superstar. When you mention the NBA’s Mailman, you think about one of the sport’s greatest scorers.
