By Brandon Zhu
In 2000, Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz became the third player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points, as he finished with 35 in a 96-94 loss to Minnesota at Target Center. Malone’s historic basket came when he made a layup with 8:53 left in the third quarter, and thus took his place in NBA annals alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 career points) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419). The no.13 pick in the 1985 NBA draft, Malone played 19 NBA seasons and finished his career with 36,928 points. He is currently ranked no.2 on the NBA All-Time Points Leaders list, and is one of seven NBA players to score over 30,000 points in their career. One of the greatest power forwards to play the game, Malone was dubbed “The Mailman” because he always delivered in the post. Malone played 19 seasons in the NBA, but he is most remembered for his 18 seasons spent with the Utah Jazz. Malone helped the Jazz become one of the best teams in the league, and was named the league MVP in 1997. During the 1996-97 season, Malone averaged 27.4 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.4 steals. Malone led the Utah Jazz to their first ever finals appearance in that same year. Malone averaged 28.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in the finals series, but lost 4-2 to the Chicago Bulls. Although Malone would never win an NBA championship, his other accolades were more than enough to secure his legacy. Malone is a 2x NBA MVP, 11x All-NBA First Team (tied with Kobe Bryant for second place), 3x NBA All-Defensive First Team, 2x Olympic gold medalist and 14x NBA All-Star.