Remember the NBA’s Mailman Karl Malone? He retired from the sports of basketball 11 years ago in his Lakers uniform after spending 19 seasons with the Utah Jazz. He is now into the business of moving construction equipment.
The Mailman is one of the very few elite NBA superstars who retired from the sport without winning an NBA championship ring, although he did come close to finally getting one, not just once but thrice.
He nearly made it in 1996-97 and the 1997-98 NBA seasons if not for Michael Jordan who powered his mighty Chicago Bulls back then to its second three-peat in eight years.
Karl Malone had another crack at a championship ring on his last season with the NBA playing with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04, but the Showtime team was shackled by the surging Detroit Pistons in the Finals four games to one.
Going back to an old feud
Apparently, during that last and only season of Karl Malone with the Lakers, he and Kobe Bryant almost figured into a confrontation because The Mailman allegedly hit on The Black Mamba’s Latina wife Vanessa, details Yahoo! Sports.
The incident happened on November 23, 2003 when Vanessa was watching a Lakers game with the Milwaukee Bucks at the Staples Center. After talking to Malone’s wife Kaye on the cell phone, Vanessa called Karl to have his child joined her at courtside.
So when Karl took his child to Vanessa, he was wearing a cowboy boots and a hat. Vanessa jokingly asked him what he was hunting and Malone replied that he was actually hunting for little Mexican girls. The Mailman not just said it once but twice. Vanessa got offended with the rude remarks.
After the game, Vanessa told Kobe that Malone came on to her. Kobe called Karl on the phone and laid everything to him. The Mailman did not respond at all nor express an apology. He just kept mum about the whole thing.
Settling an old score
After almost 12 years of keeping his peace on the issue, Karl Malone recently came out in The Huffington Post Live and admitted that he and Kobe had a little bit of an issue in the past.
He said he loves Western a lot and he does not hold grudges. Malone said that back in his days, when a man has a beef with another man, they don’t pull out guns or knives, they just go out at the back and settle it man to man.
The Mailman said he has no problem settling an old score with Bryant if that’s what the Lakers superstar want. Malone also added that at 6’ 9” and 272 pounds, he is so easy to find. He added that he doesn’t want any trouble but if something’s going to go down soon, he will not be playing fair.
Strangely enough, Karl Malone’s challenge to Kobe Bryant came at a time when the Black Mamba is recuperating from his torn rotator cuff surgery last month.
Bryant has yet to make a statement on Karl Malone’s challenge.