The basketball world was shocked when Karl Malone left the Utah Jazz in the summer of 2003 and joined the Los Angeles Lakers. It was difficult to picture The Mailman wearing a jersey other than Utah’s However, the legendary forward felt it was time for a change.
The Mailman’s choice
Many claim that the 14-time All-Star switched teams to boost his chances of winning a title. However, Karl had a different reason for this big move, which mostly concerned the other Jazz players.
“It would’ve been easy for me to stay in Utah and make 10 or 11 million and get the scoring record,” Malone said, per the New York Times. “But I think I was holding a lot of guys back from getting their careers on track, so I made the decision to go to L.A. It was a financially costly one, but I don’t look at it like that at all.”
Karl made $19.2 million in his last season with the Jazz while earning just $1.5 million with the Lakers. The Lousiana native also said he wanted to “be nervous” and was looking forward to running out of the Staples Center tunnel. Despite failing to complete the four-peat, the Purple and Gold were still heavily favored to win the title.
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