On Karl Malone’s latest appearance on his media circuit, he lobbed a backhanded compliment at a certain Sacramento Kings legend.
During the NBA’s current hiatus, there has been more player comparisons and all-time rankings being done than ever before. This could be due in large part to the success of and controversy surrounding The Last Dance documentary. Some of the latest news on that front comes from Karl Malone, who said that a certain Sacramento Kings legend was actually more talented than he was.
Malone is ranked second on the NBA’s all-time scoring list and is known as one of the top power forwards that the game has ever seen. He and John Stockton formed one of the most lethal duos of all time in Utah with the Jazz, a team that came up short in the NBA Finals twice.
So for Karl Malone himself to admit that there were power forwards that were more talented than him is quite the compliment to those players.
Sacramento Kings: Malone Says Chris Webber Was More Talented
Malone has been doing the interview circuit following the showing of The Last Dance, defending his own honor and giving his two cents on the documentary. He visited Barstool’s Pardon My Take recently to do the same. He appeared shirtless with some sort of animal carcass on his head, an oddity in of itself.
About half way through the interview, one of the hosts asks Malone if he ever walked on to a court believing that another player was better than him.
"“Did I ever say this right here, ‘is that person more talented than me?’ Absolutely. I’ve said that. I could tell you three guys that had more talent than Karl Malone. Chris Webber, Derrick Coleman, and Charles Barkley. More talent. More talent. But, they didn’t outwork me."
Certainly a backhanded compliment. Just moments prior, Malone spoke about how his weight training set him apart, and how much more dominant Shaquille O’Neal or Charles Barkley would have been if they had been hitting the gym. While Chris Webber was not a part of that discussion, Malone did throw him in a group of players who apparently did not work hard enough.
Coleman had an underwhelming career after being highly touted, and Barkley was more known for his late nights in the casino than his early mornings in the weight room. Is pitting Webber in with those guys fair? Possibly. He entered the league with much fan fare, but never played in an NBA Finals and had a tendency to shrink at the end of big games.
Nevertheless, hearing the name of a Sacramento Kings player coming out of the mouth of Karl Malone as he spews his opinions all over America certainly caught us off guard. Stay tuned for what he’ll say next.
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