Another NBA All Star Weekend is in the books after the festivities wrapped up on Monday with Team Giannis defeating Team LeBron.
The game was slammed by fans far and wide with Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone labelling it “the worst basketball game ever played”.
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But as angry as fans were watching the action unfold on both Sunday and Monday, it was nothing compared to the outrage over one move from the NBA.
With the event taking place in Utah this year, the league wanted to bring some hometown heroes into the mix with Jazz legends John Stockton and Karl Malone in attendance.
Stockton has raised eyebrows in recent months with his wild Covid-19 takes, but it was his former NBA running mate that was the focus of the backlash.
Malone was invited by the NBA to be a judge for the dunk contest on Sunday which was won by Philadelphia’s Mac McClung.
The league took things a step further during halftime of the All Star Game when they honoured LeBron James’ recent record-breaking feat.
Prior to James being brought out onto the stage, the league introduced the now second and third all-time scorers with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Malone joining James before posing for photos with the all-time great.
Criticism kicked off before the All Star Weekend got underway when Malone’s involvement was first announced, the photo of him striking a pose alongside the two legends was the spark that lit the fuse.
So why is there so much anger towards the NBA for including a man who has a resume almost every basketball player could only ever dream of?
Malone is considered one of the greatest power forwards to ever grace the hardwood, finishing his career as a two-time MVP, 14-time All Star and scoring a mammoth 36,928 points.
The anger however has nothing to do with his basketball career, it instead stems from an incident off the court two years before he became a member of the Utah Jazz.
In 1983, a 20-year-old Malone impregnated a 13-year-old girl, Gloria Bell.
No charges were ever brought against Malone over the damning incident, with Bell telling The Salt Lake Tribune in 1998 statutory rape charges weren’t considered because Malone “could not provide support for the child from jail”.
Malone however largely ignored his responsibilities as a father, meeting his son for the first time as a 17-year-old when he graduated from high school.
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Gordon Monson noting: “Malone initially denied paternity and later agreed to a settlement that reportedly did not require him to admit he was the child’s father.”
Demetress Bell grew up to become an offensive tackle in the NFL, playing for the Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys.
It’s an incident the third-best scorer in NBA history has never publicly addressed and over the weekend it was evident the league wanted to push it aside and only focus on his on-court achievements.
Malone was pressed on his past mistakes during media availability but simply denied to confront the backlash, opting instead to deflect with no comment.
Fans weren’t having it. Basketball lovers were quick to call out the NBA for honouring and shining a light on Malone despite the moment proving to be a dark cloud on festivities.
ESPN personality Bomani Jones didn’t shy away from it during his HBO show Game Theory when answering a fan question.
“You could make this question what are your thoughts about Karl Malone and stop it right there,” Jones said.
“I hated him before I had a great reason, I only had good ones. Like being a dirty player and elbowing people all the time.
“And then we find out the whole thing, if you don’t know this, that when he was in college he had a baby with a twelve-year-old.”
The audience in attendance, clearly unaware of Malone’s past indiscretion, gasped at hearing this.
Jones was far from alone in condemning both Malone and the NBA for including the former Utah Jazz superstar and his involvement throughout the weekend.
Fans instead opted to crop the image from the stage on Monday, showing off only LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Maybe it’s time the NBA cropped Malone out as well.
