SOURCE: USA Basketball

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Karl Malone

Position: Forward	Olympic #: 11
Born: 7/24/63 (Summerfield, La.)	College: Louisiana Tech Univ.
Height: 6’ 9”	Weight: 255 lbs.

Karl “the Mailman” Malone is one of the great power forwards of all time. Built more like a tight end than a basketball player, his size and strength make him difficult to defend in the low block, but he also fills the lane on the fast break and shoots a deadly medium range jumper. He hasn’t averaged below 20.0 points or 9.6 rebounds in any season since his rookie year, and he is a perennial All-Star and All-NBA selection. Malone and point guard John Stockton have formed the most consistent guard-forward combination of the modern era and have made the Utah Jazz one of the league’s most successful franchises for more than a decade.

Malone played college ball at Louisiana Tech. After sitting out his freshman season in order to become academically eligible, he led the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding in each of the next three campaigns. He left the school with a .566 career field-goal percentage and career averages of 18.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

Malone was still a relative unknown when the Jazz selected him with the 13th overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft--but he established himself quickly. After a fine rookie campaign (14.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Malone began a string of seasons virtually unmatched by power forwards in NBA annals. For six seasons beginning in 1987-88 his scoring averages were 27.7, 29.1, 31.0, 29.0, 28.0, and 27.0 points per game, respectively, and his rebounding averages ranged between 10.7 and 12.4 boards per contest. That year he also began a string of eight consecutive All-Star Team selections (including 1995), and in 1989 he started a streak of seven consecutive berths on the All-NBA First Team (including 1995). Malone was Most Valuable Player of the 1989 All-Star Game and co-MVP (along with Stockton) of the All-Star Game played at Salt Lake City in 1993.

Getting his first taste of international ball as a member of the 1983 USA World University Games Team, Malone averaged 12.0 ppg. and 5.0 rpg. in leading the U.S. to the bronze medal. In 1992 he teamed with Stockton on the U.S. Dream Team, which won a gold medal at the Olympic games in Barcelona.

Malone annually ranks among the league leaders in field-goal percentage and total free throws, and through the 1994-95 season he had only missed four regular-season games. Although he is one of the best playoff scorers ever at more than 27 points per game, the Jazz’s failure to reach the NBA Finals is the one missing piece in Malone’s remarkable career. The team has been one of the NBA’s better regular-season teams year in and year out and has reached the Western Conference Finals three times.