Moses Malone, Hall of Famer and basketball legend, dies at 60
Hall of Famer Moses Malone, a true giant who broke barriers, dominated the boards and imposed his will on the interior like few others in basketball history, died Sunday, according to multiple reports. He was 60.
News of Malone’s passing first came from Mark Berman of FOX 26 in Houston:
Malone was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player three times — twice as a member of the Houston Rockets after the 1978-79 and 1981-82 seasons, and once with the Philadelphia 76ers, following a 1982-83 season that also saw him earn Finals MVP honors for leading the Sixers to the NBA championship, the third championship in franchise history and their most recent crown. He stands as one of just four players in NBA history to amass more than 25,000 points and 15,000 rebounds, alongside fellow legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Elvin Hayes.
He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. He started his professional career in the ABA, becoming the first player ever to go into the pros right out of high school when he decided not to attend the University of Maryland, but rather to join the Utah Stars, who drafted him in the third round of the 1974 ABA draft.
Well, he didn’t go right away. According to longtime friend and Terrapin legend John Lucas, Moses did make a brief stop in College Park:
You can understand why he decided to make the leap; the 6-foot-10 Malone was a star from the jump. He averaging 18.8 points and 14.6 rebounds per game as a 19-year-old, earning an ABA All-Star berth in what would turn out to be his lone season with the Stars. When Utah folded before the 1975-76 season, the Spirits of St. Louis purchased Malone’s rights, and he played with them for one season before the NBA-ABA merger sent the rising star into a brave new world.
He’d quickly come to dominate his new surroundings, going on to make 12 more All-Star appearances in the NBA over the course of a career that spanned three decades, ranging from ’74 through 1994, when he hung up his high-tops — Air Force Ones, natch — following a 17-game stint with the San Antonio Spurs after hitting what has to be one of the coolest final shots in basketball history:
Not a bad way to finish off a 21-season career that still ranks among the greatest in the sport’s history. Malone averaged (averaged!) 20.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game over the span of 1,455 games between the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
Two decades after his retirement, Malone’s name still appears all over the NBA’s all-time leaderboard. He’s still far and away the most prolific offensive rebounder in history, sitting more than 2,000 caroms clear of second-place Robert Parish, and sixth in the NBA ranks in total rebounds pulled down. The Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki knocked him down a spot this past season, but Malone’s 27,409 points still rank eighth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and he remains among the game’s all-time leaders in free throws made (second) and attempted (fourth), games played (12th), total minutes (15th), made field goals (18th) and blocked shots (24th). He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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