Former NBA player Vernon Maxwell has no love for Utah Jazz fans, and he isn’t exactly an admirer of their team in the 1990s either. Maxwell had some contentious battles with the Jazz during his career, and once shared his thoughts on some of their players, like John Stockton, on the All The Smoke podcast.
“Stockton dirty as f***,” Maxwell said, via James Hansen. “One of the dirtiest f***ing players in the NBA ever, history. This little short little mailbox looking carrier a** and he’s dirty as hell. He’s a dog. He’s a demon… Just don’t look like that, but he was nasty as f***. He’s a dirty dog.”
You wouldn’t think of Stockton as a dirty player if you go by appearances, but he sure was one. Maxwell is far from the first to make such a claim. Former NBA star Gilbert Arenas called Stockton the dirtiest player he ever played against.
Maxwell did say he loved that vibe. He then proceeded to call Stockton’s backcourt partner, Jeff Hornacek, another dirty player, and made some wild comments about Greg Ostertag and Karl Malone.
“Hornacek, that motherf***er one of the dirtiest motherf***ers, too,” Maxwell said. “… Horny god damn, and then you got this big ole motherf***er wild a** country white a** motherf***er [Ostertag]… And then you got country boy a** motherf***er [Malone] driving 18-wheeler. The rig, the 18-wheeler, down in the god damn stadium. Who’s doing this? I mean, what the f***… He bring that to the game.”
This was a pretty accurate description of the ’90s Jazz. Maxwell first got to face them in the playoffs in the 1994 Western Conference Finals with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets won 4-1 to advance to the NBA Finals, where they beat the New York Knicks in seven games.
The two teams then met again in the first round of the 1995 playoffs. The Jazz won Game 1, and Maxwell, who had lost his starting spot to Clyde Drexler, quit on the team afterward. Despite his departure, the Rockets would go on to win their second straight title.
Maxwell would get two more cracks at the Jazz in the postseason after this. He lost to them in five games in the first round in 1999 with the Sacramento Kings and then beat them in five games in the first round in 2001 with the Dallas Mavericks.
All in all, Maxwell was 8-6 against the Jazz in the postseason. You’d imagine he’s pretty happy about that. That core of Stockton, Malone, Hornacek, and Ostertag never won a title either, which would have only added to his happiness.
Vernon Maxwell Explained His Dislike For Jazz Fans
There might not be an NBA player around who hates a particular area more than Maxwell hates Utah. He recently vowed to donate $10,000 worth of deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, and soap to Salt Lake City to improve hygiene if the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Rockets in Game 6 of their first-round series.
The Lakers did win, but Maxwell then hilariously claimed he had been hacked. He made it clear there would be no donation. As for the reason for this hatred, Maxwell once shared his experience with Jazz fans.
“The people out there, they abused me,” Maxwell said. “Talk about my mama, my grandma, talk about the stillborn; they call me the N-word. You see what they did to Ja Morant and his mom and dad. I keep telling these people they’ve been doing this for a long time.
“People are acting like this s*** is new, I said this a long time ago, and that’s why I was happy that Dwyane Wade took a part-ownership in that,” Maxwell continued. “Because he’s a Black man, and I’m sure he heard it, and he’s seen it, and what goes on there from when he was a player.”
Maxwell was referring to three Jazz fans being banned indefinitely by the team for making vulgar and racist comments to Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant’s parents during the 2021 playoffs. There have unfortunately been quite a few instances over the years of Jazz fans making racist remarks. It’s just one of the many reasons why Utah isn’t exactly the preferred destination for most NBA players.
