Hall of Fame legacy, Stern says

Karl Malone finished his career as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, but apparently that 2003-04 season wasn't too memorable for the NBA's boss.

"I forgot all about him playing for the Lakers already," NBA commissioner David Stern joked. "It's the Utah Jazz and it's (John) Stockton to Malone. That's what I remember. It's Malone and Stockton."

Stern, who became commissioner of the NBA one year before Malone was drafted by Utah, will be in town today as Malone's 18-year career with the Jazz is celebrated with the unveiling of a statue outside the Delta Center, the renaming of a street in Malone's honor and the retirement of his No. 32 jersey.

"When you talk about Karl Malone, you talk about strength, commitment, work ethic, passion," said Stern in a phone interview with the Deseret Morning News prior to his trip to Salt Lake. "This is a gentleman who was a winner from day one. He set an example by always keeping himself in shape and his team never missed the playoffs. And for 11 or 12 years he never missed a game. He was a tower of strength and had astounding accomplishments."

Malone was a two-time NBA most valuable player, a 14-time All-Star and a two-time Olympic gold medalist who finished his career second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the NBA's all-time scoring list. But despite playing in the NBA Finals three times (two with the Jazz, one with the Lakers), he never earned an NBA championship.

That won't damage "the Mailman's" legacy, however, according to Stern.

Not winning a championship "doesn't change the fact that he was the ultimate power forward and that future players will be compared to him," said Stern. "We think about Wilt (Chamberlain) and (Bill) Russell or Oscar (Robertson) and Kareem, Magic (Johnson), Larry (Bird) and Michael (Jordan). Karl is going to be thought of right up there with them. He's going right to the Hall of Fame."

Stern, of course, has a hard time talking about Malone without also bringing up Stockton, the point guard who set up so many of Malone's 36,928 career points.

"I knew what he was doing with Stockton. Everyone else knew what they were going to do, too," Stern said. "And yet they couldn't stop them. The two of them, doing it in such a way that they couldn't defend it. It was as though it was so beautiful to behold that the other team would stop to watch them."

That Stockton-to-Malone magic was on display during the 1993 NBA All-Star Game, when the duo shared MVP honors. That game just also happened to be played on the duo's home court.