Utah Jazz fans, who are still reeling from the recent retirement of John Stockton, need to prepare themselves for some more bad news.
Odds are that after 18 years of faithful service, Karl Malone will be delivering hammer dunks and fade-away jumpers elsewhere in the next NBA season.
J.R.R. Tolkien, the creator of the Lord of the Rings saga, could have written the script of Malone’s basketball career.
It is a story of a young man from a small town who embarked on a journey in search of an elusive goal: an NBA Championship ring.
Along the way he, and his right hand man Stockton, battled the best warriors of the game: the invincible Jordan, the giant Olajuwon and the new wave of young blood-Shaq, Kobe and Tim Duncan.
Malone has become one of best NBA players of all time. Over the years he has played in 1,434 games, been awarded the MVP award twice, amassed an impressive 5,085 assists, 14,601 rebounds and 36,374 points. He needs only 2,014 more points to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the all-time scoring record.
He has come so close to the ring he could taste it but, alas, not all fairy tales end with a happy ending.
So the question is raised: Will the lure of the ring pull Karl away from the Jazz?
The answer is yes.
His recent behavior indicates that the question of which path to take next has been a difficult choice. It has been reported that he is spending time by himself in Arkansas as he faces what may be the last big decision of his career. Should he remain loyal without a realistic chance of winning a championship, and finish his career with the team he’s been with since day one?
Or should he pack his bags for one last shot, like Ray Bourque did when he went from Boston to Colorado to win the Stanley Cup?
I wonder if Jazz fans would be as happy for Karl if he won a title as Bruins fans were for Bourque.
Malone becomes an unrestricted free agent in July. He also turns 40 years old the same month, and the decision is looming like an 800-pound gorilla hiding in the corner of the room, ready to dose out a smack of reality.
The debate circling around Salt Lake City and the NBA is where he will go when he does indeed choose to leave.
It seems that Dallas, the place he had originally expected to be drafted to back in 1985, could be Karl’s first choice.
He recently told the Dallas Morning News that the Mavericks are a leading contender for his services next season.
Other possible teams include the Lakers, where he would probably sacrifice points and touches for a ring, or the Hornets in Louisiana, his home state where his mother still lives.
Former Laker Abdul-Jabbar even told the Salt Lake Tribune that he thinks Karl will exit the Beehive State for greener pastures.
He commented on how difficult it must be for Malone to have had such a great career but nothing to show for it in the end.
Maybe Malone’s frustration is the reason he voices his displeasure every summer, and why the trade rumors begin to fly. It would be nice to not have to listen to the annual “Will Karl get traded?” talk we are subjected to every summer on local sports shows.
In Karl’s defense, he has given himself to the game and the Jazz, so doesn’t he deserve to have one last opportunity to seize that one ring?
So as the time nears and the people await his decision, it becomes more of a possibility that the final chapter in Malone’s storied career will be played out in a distant land called Texas.