5 greatest players to never win an NBA championship
By Phil Watson
3a and 3b. Karl Malone and John Stockton
Yes, we cheated a bit here, but it is hard to untangle the shared legacies of Utah Jazz stars Karl Malone and John Stockton. Taken as mid-first round picks in consecutive years, Stockton joined the Jazz out of Gonzaga in 1984 and Malone came to Utah from Louisiana Tech the following season.
They became the faces of the Jazz and, for all of the off-court noise surrounding both after their careers ended, it could be argued they still are the faces of the franchise. Stockton played his entire 19-year career in Utah while Malone spent 18 years with the Jazz and one with the Los Angeles Lakers, where he made his third NBA Finals appearance in 2004.
Together, they reached the Finals in 1997 and 1998, losing to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in six games each time. Stockton is the all-time assist leader in NBA history, was an 11-time All-NBA selection and a five-time All-Defensive choice. Malone was a two-time MVP in Utah with 14 All-NBA teams to his credit to go with four All-Defensive selections.
Stockton averaged 13.1 points, 10.5 assists and 2.2 steals in 31.8 minutes per game in the regular season with a 54.6 effective field goal percentage, while putting up 13.4 points, 10.1 dimes and 1.9 steals in 35.2 minutes per game in the playoffs, albeit with an effective field goal percentage of 50.3. Malone's regular-season numbers of 25.0 points, 10.1 boards and 3.6 dimes in 37.2 minutes fell to 24.7, 10.7 and 3.2 in 41.0, respectively, while his effective field goal percentage plummeted from 51.8 to 46.3.
While it seems almost all of Stockton's 15,086 career assists were to Malone, their pick-and-roll dynamic defined the Jazz for nearly 20 years. Both were named to the 75th Anniversary Team and were members of the 1992 Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics.