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Happy 50th Birthday, Karl Malone

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One of the NBA’s all-time greats, Karl Malone, turns 50 years old today.

Malone grew up in Louisiana before enrolling at Louisiana Tech University, where he led his team to a Southland Conference Championship and a Sweet-16 appearance.

In 1985, the Utah Jazz selected Malone with the 13th overall pick.

Malone would pair up with John Stockton in Utah and form a pick-and-roll pairing that would provide well over a decade of success for the Jazz and be a bedrock for a franchise that competed in the playoffs nearly every year. Malone was an 11-time First Team All-NBA member, a 14-time All-Star, and twice voted the MVP of the All-Star game.

Malone has many NBA records, including most field goals made and attempted in a career, most defensive rebounds (Artis Gilmore has more if you include his ABA numbers, but Malone holds the NBA record), most turnovers (though he’d like to forget that one) and second most points of all time, ahead of Michael Jordan and just behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Malone led the Jazz to two NBA Finals, in 1997 and 1998, losing both times to the Jordan-led Bulls.

Happy 50th Birthday to the Mailman, Karl Malone.

 

 

Contributing: Nate Scott

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