Karl Malone and Chris Webber were big friends and rivals whenever they clashed on the court. They want at it on uncountable occasions, always trying to prevail over one another, as Malone has stated before. They are two of the best power forwards the league has seen and their duels were always great.
Things could reach really high points for these two and Malone recently explained there was one time he thought about fighting Webber after he tried to hurt his teammate John Stockton. During a recent interview on The Players’ Tribune’s “Knuckleheads” podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, Malone explained the sequence (25:10 mark).
“I love Chris Webber but this was one time where I wanted to kick his ass. Right? So we had been wearing them out – at home – and Chris Webber started at half court looking for John Stockton. On the flip side, I say ‘Good on you Chris for studying the playbook. And we ran that four up and he didn’t even care. He hit Stockton right in the sternum with his elbow. I damn near felt it and [it] hurt. …I felt so bad I went over to Coach [Jerry] Sloan and I said, ‘Coach, don’t run that again, please.’ Stock[ton] looked at me and said ‘No, I’m good’ and the next play– well, you know.”
This is indeed a great story and shows how things could get when these two clashed on the court. Those were different times when players tried each other’s toughness. Webber did try Stockton, whom he used to call the “baddest man on earth.” This is just one of many stories about those days and those duels. Hopefully, Stockton proved once again he was a tough man and Malone didn’t get physical with Webber.
