Utah Jazz: Karl Malone confirmed for Hall of Fame, announcement Monday

SALT LAKE CITY — Karl Malone will join his old pick-and-roll partner and his even older coach in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this summer.

The official announcement will take place Monday at a press conference in Indianapolis as part of the NCAA Tournament championship day festivities, but The Mailman's inclusion in the Class of 2010 was confirmed to The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. by an unnamed source on Friday night.

Malone's enshrinement comes a year after longtime Utah Jazz teammate John Stockton and coach Jerry Sloan were inducted into the hoops haven in Springfield, Mass., last September.

The New Jersey paper also reported that former Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen will be enshrined alongside Malone, giving the Hall of Fame another Jazz-Bulls connection after Michael Jordan went in with Sloan and Stockton in 2009.

Coach Bob Hurley Sr., the well-known prep coach from St. Anthony High School in Jersey City whose teams have won 24 state titles but don't have a gym in the school, will also be among the inductees, somebody close to the coach told The Star-Ledger. Hurley will be just the third high school coach named to the Hall of Fame, following Passaic's Ernest Blood and DeMatha Catholic's Morgan Wootten.

It's also expected that the original 1992 Dream Team will be enshrined.

Malone's election to the Hall of Fame has been an expected formality, considering the two-time NBA MVP finished his 19-year career trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabaar on the league's all-time scoring list.

Malone was a 14-time All-Star, an 11-time All-NBA selection and led the Jazz to consecutive NBA Finals in 1997 and '98.

This year's Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony will take place on Aug. 13.

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