Karl Malone retires from NBA as a 'Jazz man'

Jet, March 7, 2005

Citing that his body was willing, but his mind wasn't up to playing another year, NBA star Karl Malone officially announced his retirement, ending his 19-season career.

"I look at basketball as 100 percent physically and 100 percent mentally. And if I can't bring you 200 percent, from me, I can't bring you anything," said Malone at a news conference at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

The 41-year-old Malone, nicknamed the Mailman, played all but one year for the Utah Jazz, where his career began when the Jazz selected him with the 13th pick in the 1985 draft. Last season Malone played or the Los Angeles Lakers.

"Even though I left for a year, I grew here as a Jazz man," Malone said. "If I'm fortunate enough to go into the Hall of Fame, I will go as a Jazz man."

Malone finishes second on the NBA's career scoring list with 36,928 points, just 1,459 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. A show of durability, Malone is also second only to Abdul-Jabbar's 57,446 minutes played with 54,852. Malone was honored as the league's MVP in 1997 and '99 and was a 14-time All-Star selection.

The future Hall of Famer also won gold medals with the U.S. Olympic teams of 1992 and 1996. About the only thing missing in his career is a title ring, which he missed out on in three trips to the NBA finals.

"I wanted a championship. I'm not going to lie to you. That was my ultimate goal, but that was a team goal. That wasn't an individual goal," he said. "I will say that the two years we made it to the Finals with the Jazz, that was the funnest years I had playing ball."