What is the scandal Karl Malone was involved in? Disturbing details about NBA legend’s past hurt his legacy

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2 years ago

Here is all that you need to know about the Karl Malone scandal and his dark past. Read to know more about it.

Karl Malone is an Utah Jazz legend but has not won any NBA championships. (Image: NBA)

Karl Anthony Malone or commonly known as Karl Malone is an NBA legend. He is known for his legendary stint with the Utah Jazz and later with the Los Angeles Lakers for one season. In total, Malone ‘The Mailman’ played 19 seasons in the NBA.

During his 19-season tenure, Malone won many accolades but sadly did not manage to win any NBA championships. However, he has been a two-time NBA MVP, fourteen-time NBA All-Star, two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP, and much more. He has also been a member of the prestigious NBA Anniversary team, on both the 50^th and 75^th anniversary. Further, Malone is also a two-time Olympic Gold medalist 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta).

At the time of retirement, Malone had a career average of 25.0 ppg, 10.1 rpg, and 3.6 apg. Notably, Malone was a scoring powerhouse and ranks third in the NBA All-Time Scoring list leaders with a massive 36,928 points. And of course, he is a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.

However, behind this stellar NBA career of Karl Malone lies a dark and hideous past. Let us know more about the scandals that Karl Malone it.

Karl Malone was involved in several scandals and controversies

Karl Malone got a 13-year-old girl pregnant

Malone knocked up 13-year-old Gloria Bell when Malone was a 20-year-old student and basketball star at Louisiana Tech University. Subsequently, Gloria Bell gave birth to Demetress Bell, a future NFL lineman.

Interestingly, Bell’s family had the option of filing statutory rape charges, but they chose not to do so because Malone was “a neighbourhood kid,” according to Gloria.

Karl Malone harassed Kobe Bryant’s wife Vanessa Bryant

This incident happened when Malone was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. During the 2004 season, Malone made a pass at Bryant’s wife, Vanessa Bryant.

Here’s how it went down according to ESPN:

“Karl and his son were at the game sitting in the front row,” (Rob Pelinka, then Kobe’s Agent) said. “Vanessa was on the cell phone talking to Karl’s wife, Kay, and Vanessa said that her son looked bored. Kay told her to call Karl to have her son join her in her seats. Kay gave Vanessa Karl’s cell number and she called him. When she called, Karl’s response was, ‘Why don’t you come over here and sit next to me and give me a big hug?’ Vanessa said, ‘Why? For what?’ And Karl replied, ‘If you do that it will be on the cover of every magazine in the country.’”

“Vanessa didn’t know what to say because this was the first time she had ever spoken to Malone without Kobe or Kay being around. Karl continued. ‘Do you like me?’ Malone asked her, to which Vanessa said, ‘As my friend, Kay’s husband,’” Pelinka said.

“From there Malone asked Vanessa if she could keep a secret, and that he would like to tell her something. At which point Vanessa told him she was a married woman and he was a married man who was old enough to be her father. To which Malone replied, ‘Oh, like your daddy?’ At that point she told me she ended the conversation,” Pelinka said.

In the second half of the game, Malone sent his son to sit with the Bryants.

“Vanessa told me that she just was very uncomfortable at halftime and that Karl was acting and saying weird things,” said Pelinka. “When the game ended, Vanessa walked Malone’s son back to Karl. She told me that she asked Malone why he was wearing that [cowboy] hat. His response was, ‘I’m hunting for young Mexican girls.’ (Vanessa Bryant is a Mexican-American) at which point Vanessa just walked away.”

On the car ride home, Vanessa Bryant told Kobe what had happened. Vanessa decided to call Kay Malone and tell her about the way her husband had spoken to her. After they hung up, Kobe Bryant called Karl Malone on his cell phone.

“Kobe told me that Karl just listened and didn’t deny any of it. Kobe said Karl’s only reply was, ‘You know me, man.’ To which Kobe told him, ‘That’s right, I do know you—and stay away from my wife,’” said Pelinka. “The next day, with all four of them on the phone, Karl denied it. At that point the Bryants knew that there was nothing left to talk about since they knew Karl wasn’t telling the truth. Vanessa told me that she told Kay that she [Vanessa] wanted her [Kay] to know ‘just exactly what your husband [Karl] did, and you do what you want with the information.’”

Karl Malone became the father of twins when he was aged 17

Malone and his partner were 17 years old when they became parents of twins, Cheryl and Daryl Ford.

But becoming a parent is not the controversial part. Surprisingly, Malone chose not to engage with any of his children for the majority of his life. He even went on to settle paternity suits out of court in a manner whereby he was not made to publicly acknowledge he was the kids’ biological father.

Further, Malone remained out of touch and disengaged from his children’s lives until the arrival of grandchildren. After his grandchildren were born, Malone was inspired and started working towards building relationships with his now middle-aged children.

Karl Malone was against Magic Johnson’s HIV condition

Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV and Magic tried to make a comeback after his HIV diagnosis in 1991, but Malone was dominantly opposed to the idea of Magic’s return.

59-year-old Malone went on to claim that the scrapes he incurred during the course of play made him vulnerable to exposure when he shared the court with Johnson. He further claimed that other NBA players, including Malone, would hesitate to defend Magic out of fear of contracting the virus.

However, all the claims made by Malone were simply not true because that is not how one contracts HIV.

Due to Malone’s claims, Magic’s NBA return was short-lived.

So, in short, Karl Malone might be an NBA legend but he has quite a share of scandals and controversies which naturally make one question about his human nature.