Karl Malone recounted the story of how he once got really mad at Chris Webber for hitting Jazz teammate John Stockton with his elbow.
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The Mailman is one of the greatest and most durable players in NBA history. Through 19 seasons in the league, Karl Malone made the playoffs every year. He totaled nearly 37,000 points in the regular season and 4761 more in his playoff career.
In addition, he set various appearance records – Malone missed a grand total of 10 regular season games out of a possible 1444 with the Jazz. It was only in his final season with the Lakers that he sustained an injury. It eventually put an end to his career.
Karl Malone narrates why he got mad at Chris Webber
In his recent appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Malone told us a really vivid story:
“I love Chris Webber but this was one time where I wanted to kick his a**. Right? So we had been wearing them out – at home – and Chris Webber started at half court looking for John Stockton.”
“On the flip side, I say ‘Good on you Chris for studying the playbook. And we ran that four up and he didn’t even care. He hit Stockton right in the sternum with his elbow. I damn near felt it and [it] hurt. …I felt so bad I went over to Coach [Jerry] Sloan and I said, ‘Coach, don’t run that again, please.’ Stock[ton] looked at me and said ‘No, I’m good’ and the next play– well, you know.”
Karl Malone on the time he wanted to kick Chris Webber’s ass #ChrisWebber #KarlMalone https://t.co/Ya2TJYUr1Z
— TalkBasket (@TalkBasket) January 20, 2021
Webber and Malone are both regarded as two of the greatest power forwards of all time. It’s a pity their rivalry didn’t truly begin until late in Malone’s career.