A very popular subject among NBA fans and analysts is who was the best player who never won a championship. There are many candidates for that title. In fact, Utah Jazz Legends Karl Malone and John Stockton are among the best, and among those who believe that the first has the title as the best to never win is Jazzalum Richard Jefferson.
On his podcast, “Road Trippin”, Jefferson explained why he had Malone about Charles Barkley as the best player who never won a title.
“The reason why I would choose Karl Malone above Charles is because of the level of professionalism that Karl Malone always approached. Karl Malone also had a top-five point watch … in John Stockton … so when I look at Karl Malone versus Charles-toen Charles was in the form of a rebelf, so I don’t take photos to him.
“But I say, if you look at a man like Karl Malone, who trained eight hours a day, he played for 19 years. He was second in scoring. And if his body had persisted, he would probably have been the most important scorer of all time. So if I look at the best player, I am not to the best player. That’s why his health was bigger.
It is also difficult to argue at the time against the consistency of jazz. Utah regularly made the play -offs in the 1980s and 1990s with consistent production from Malone. While Malone and Stockton fell out of their prime, those jazz teams fell as soon as the 21st century rolled around, but they still competed from start to finish.
And as Jefferson noted, it’s not the way Malone did alone. Stockton by his side has certainly incorporated into the consistent excellence of jazz year after year. Malone, however, did everything he could to reach his full potential as a player. Barkley had demonstrably more talent than Malone did and was perhaps even the more unique player, but his inability to stay in shape made him fall out of his prime.
Malone may not have succeeded in taking a title for jazz home, but no fan can ever claim that he has not tried his best.
One title changes this entire conversation
Without deepening too much in Wat-IFS, it is amazing to think that if the Jazz had just won one title, neither Malone nor Stockton would be discussed in such a conversation. Although they are one of the best players who have never won it all, there are many great ones who have only won once.
Players such as Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce, who all played around the same time as Malone and Stockton, won exactly one title, so their names are not mentioned in this conversation.
The story “Ring or nothing” has always been superficial, but it does reflect on players of all time who just couldn’t get over the bump. In the case of Malone and Stockton, not winning a title is large above their heads because they had so many opportunities and only came around twice. Even more painful for them is that it would only have brought everything to bed once.
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