Long before Shaquille O’Neal established himself in the NBA, Karl Malone was the dominant forward that every NBA team feared facing. Besides his on-court dominance, Malone neither backed out from fights in his off-court life. In the last year of his playing career, Karl Malone was even ready to fight Kobe Bryant after he offended the Mamba by passing lewd and illicit comments at his wife, Vanessa Bryant. However, contrary to this rough and brutal nature, Malone was almost driven to tears 19 years before this incident during his draft night.
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Karl Malone was one of the strongest players of his time, one who was not afraid of playing contact and going toe-to-toe against the most prominent players. During his draft year, Malone was anticipating being drafted into the Dallas Mavericks, given his dislike for the city of Utah. However, he felt betrayed when he was chosen to the Utah Jazz instead. This made him so upset that he cried during his draft interview.
Karl Malone cried during his draft interview after being betrayed by the Dallas Mavericks.
YouTuber Frank Michael Smith posted a thread that detailed how the Dallas Mavericks betrayed Karl Malone during the 1985 NBA draft. He was eventually selected as a 13th overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 1st round of the draft. For Karl Malone, he wanted to be anywhere except the city of Utah. As a high schooler, Malone discovered the town to be the least diverse in the United States, having only 1% black population.
Seeing this, Malone never felt like visiting the city ever, let alone becoming a part of the team. He desperately wanted to be drafted with the Mavs, who had promised him a place in the team. However, the draft night was a significant disappointment for rookie Malone. Instead of choosing him, the Mavs chose Detlef Schrempf as their pick. The Utah Jazz chose Malone, to his utter dismay. A disappointed Karl Malone later said:
“I was so sure that the Dallas Mavericks were going to draft me, because I went out there to visit them at least 10 times, enough that I moved out there and didn’t want to come to New York. And them I’m sitting in the green room and they don’t pick me. I will admit, and I’ve shied away from it a little bit, I went after the Dallas Mavericks hard all the time. I was strictly there to kick their ass, because they lied to me. So every time I played the Dallas Mavericks, I looked to kick their ass over and over.”
Meanwhile, Dallas’ pick Detlef Schrempf started 35 games for the Mavs. He was traded midway through his fourth season to the Indian Pacers for Herb Williams. Meanwhile, Malone had become an absolute beast as a forward with the Jazz. He was going against some of the most prominent players in the league, including Michael Jordan.
By the time he was traded to the Lakers, he was unafraid of consequences. He even took the chance to flirt with Kobe Bryant’s wife, leading to an ugly fight between him and the Mamba.
Karl Malone was one of the most physically dominant players in the NBA
Karl Malone’s physical prowess defined his abilities as a dominant NBA player. He was unafraid of picking a fight, whether on-court altercations or brawls. One of his most infamous altercations came against Detroit Pistons and Isaiah Thomas.
Malone likely elbowed Isaiah Thomas in an accident while guarding him. This resulted in Thomas falling hard on the ground and the Pistons team starting an on-court altercation. Thomas was lying in a bloody mess and was immediately rushed for medical assistance.
When Bill Lambert hit Malone during a layup, he took it upon himself to take redemption. From this altercation, Isaiah Thomas had to put in 40 stitches following this encounter.
