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The 41-year-old Lakers star LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul, recently recorded an episode of his podcast ‘Game Over’ with Max Kellerman and spoke about whether this is James’ last NBA season, and made an eye-opening claim about it. He also addressed LeBron James’ floor right now, which means the least he can contribute to the Lakers, even on a bad day. He compared that to the Jazz veteran Karl Malone, who was second in the league’s history in scoring behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before James took over the record from them both a few years ago. “I made a comment before I said that obviously the ceiling is who he is, or who he has been for his career. But the floor is Karl Malone,” said Paul. He went on to explain how efficiently James could produce if he played the same role as Karl Malone did for most of his career, which is setting screens for John Stockton and rolling to the rim.
“You look at that list it’s like, there’s no way,” Harden said earlier this week in Atlanta when asked about his inclusion on a scoring list that includes all-time leader LeBron James, center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, power forward Karl Malone, power forward Dirk Nowitzki, center Wilt Chamberlain, small forward Kevin Durant, and center Shaquille O’Neal. “There’s no way that I’d get the opportunity to be a part of this list. It’s literally like a dream come true. The work that I literally put in is coming to fruition. So many things that this game has done for me. And I’m sure for all those guys as well, you know what I mean. Those names are still being talked about, you know, post basketball. So it’s literally a dream come true, and it’s an opportunity and honor to be a part of that list.”
The Utah Jazz played 2,155 regular season games since Karl Malone scored 56 points in awin over Golden State on April 7, 1998. No Jazz player had topped the 50-point mark until Lauri Markkanen scored a career-high 51 in a 138-134 win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday night. He became the 97th player to score 50 points in NBA history.
But Jefferson picked ‘The Mailman,’ and his reasoning was rooted in what he called Malone’s “level of professionalism.” “The reason why I would pick Karl Malone over Charles is because of the level of professionalism that Karl Malone always approached,” Jefferson said on his Road Trippin’ pod. “Karl Malone also had a top-five point guard — wherever you want to rank him — in John Stockton next to him.” “So when I look at Karl Malone, with Charles when he was in Philly, he was in and out of shape, and then he would, you know, some of his off-the-court partying that we knew about…I’m saying Charles was a rebel. He’s not a role model. So I’m not taking shots at him. But I’m saying, when you look at a guy like Karl Malone, who trained for eight hours a day, he played for 19 years. He was second in scoring. And if his body would have held up, he probably would have been the all-time leading scorer.”
Byron Scott: Tell us your All-Time starting five, you included, so you got to pick four, so you got to give me a point guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Mitch Richmond: I'm going to go Magic Johnson at point guard. I'm gonna put Michael Jordan at the three. The four… Damn. There’s Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Charles Barkley… Charles is a little undersized, but Charles was good. And you got Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett… I'mma go with Kevin Durant cuz we're spreading it out. And then I'mma go Big Shaq at center.
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Layden went 277-294 during the regular season as the Jazz’s head coach. Under Layden, Utah made the playoffs five times, reaching the conference semifinals three times. One of his greatest accomplishments as an NBA executive with the Jazz was drafting Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone in back-to-back years, turning the franchise into a perennial playoff contender and eventually leading the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.
Tom Haberstroh: Jalen WIlliams just did something -- score 40+ in a Finals game -- that the following players have never done: Larry Bird Hakeem Olajuwon Karl Malone Kawhi Leonard Dirk Nowitzki
Jorge Sierra: Only nine players have been to the playoffs more times than James Harden: Karl Malone, John Stockton, Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Clifford Robinson, Tony Parker, Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Kidd
Jorge Sierra: MOST TIMES MAKING THE PLAYOFFS 19 - Karl Malone, John Stockton 18 - LEBRON JAMES, Tim Duncan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 17 - Tony Parker, Shaquille O'Neal, Jason Kidd, Clifford Robinson
Karl Malone: "I became the professional athlete I am today because of one athlete. He taught me how to be a professional—my mentor, my sensei, my man, Adrian Dantley. Ice your knees. Ice bath. Yes sir, Mr. Dantley—that’s who I wanted to be like."
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Prior to Wednesday night, only seven players had scored at least 50 points in a game in NBA history after turning 35 years old: Alex English, Karl Malone, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Jamal Crawford, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry. Harden is the first player in NBA history to score at least 50 points in a game at the age of 35 or older while on the second night of a back-to-back that his team won. “To see him come out and score 50 on a back-to-back at the age of 35 just says a lot about him and competing every night,” said Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, whose Clippers team improves to 33-29, good enough for eighth in the Western Conference with 20 games left to play. “Playing 38 minutes again on a back-to-back, but we needed every bit of it.”
Jorge Sierra: Brook Lopez tied Larry Nance in blocks last night for No. 19 in NBA history. He also tied Isaiah Thomas in three-pointers (No. 148) and moved ahead of Amare Stoudemire in rebounds (No. 146). Also: LeBron James moved to No. 72 all-time in blocks ahead of Karl Malone and Andre Drummond.
Mike Trudell: LeBron James has been named Western Conference Player of the Month, averaging 29.3 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 6.9 apg in leading the Lakers to a 10-2 record in Feb. He extends his PoM record to 41, and at age 40, surpassing Karl Malone (37) as the oldest to sustain such dominance.
Jorge Sierra: LeBron James passed Horace Grant in blocks last night. He's now No. 75 in NBA history. The only players in the Top 75 in all of the main counting stats are LeBron, Karl Malone and Kevin Garnett.