Karl Malone, John Stockton: Ten NBA greats who retired without a Championship Ring (Part 3)
Karl Malone
Karl Malone was one the most devastating power forwards in the history of the league and it because of his consistency to score points that he was named “The Mailman” – one who always delivered. The 6 ft 9 veteran twice won MVP
awards in his career and he ended up as the second highest scorer of the league with 36,928 points after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Malone scored at an average of 25 points per game in his career and complemented it with 10.10 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
After winning the Rookie of the year award in 1986, Malone went on to represent the NBA All-Star 14 time, All-Defensive second team once and All-Defensive first team thrice. Malone was also included in the 50 Greatest Players of
all time.
The feat that he never managed to accomplish though was winning the NBA Championship. Although, he made it twice into the NBA Finals with Utah Jazz, but both times, he lost to Jordan and company. Malone also represented Lakers
for one year, but failed to grasp the ring once again.
John Stockton
The 6 ft 1 veteran played as a point guard for Utah Jazz throughout his career. Stockton is still remembered as one of the very best point guards in the history of the league. He holds the record of most dimes and steals and that
too by some margin.
The gifted guard was named as NBA All-Star on 11 occasions. He was also selected in the NBA All-Defensive second team. In 1993, he was named the Most Valuable Player in an NBA All-Star game and was also included in the NBA’s 50th
Anniversary All-Time Team.
In his NBA career, John scored 19,711 points at an average of 13.1 points per game, provided 15,806 assists (with an average of 10.5 per game) and made 3,265 steals (with an average of 2.2 in each game).
The two time Olympic gold medal winner led Utah to the playoffs for 18 successive years, but thrice they lost the Western Conference Final and twice they lost against Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. That left another great player
without championship ring. In 2009, Stockton was included in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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