Karl Malone won’t talk about controversial past: ‘I don’t care’
The NBA’s decision to bring back Karl Malone as a Slam Dunk Contest judge has been criticized, but Malone wouldn’t discuss that controversy’s roots.
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Karl Malone won’t talk about controversial past: ‘I don’t care’
By Andrew CraneThe NBA’s decision to bring back Karl Malone as a judge for its Slam Dunk Contest has been widely criticized, but Malone wouldn’t discuss the roots of that controversy during the league’s All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City.
“I’m not discussing any of that backlash,” he said in an interview, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “I don’t care. That’s my life, that’s my personal life, and I’ll deal with that like I’ve had to deal with everything. So, whatever.”
The former Jazz star, who played with the team from 1985-2003, impregnated a 13-year-old girl when he was 20 years old and attending Louisiana Tech. Malone denied his paternity status for years — despite blood tests that confirmed 99.3% probability, according to a 1998 article from the Associated Press — before eventually forming a relationship with his now-38-year-old son.
Gloria Bell, the child’s mother, didn’t press charges against Malone at the time because he was a “neighborhood kid” — and one that “could not provide support for the child from jail,” a columnist from the Tribune wrote. Malone also fathered twins as a 17-year-old, and he reached an “out-of-court settlement” related to paternity, according to the Tribune.
When pressed about thoughts from his past, Malone responded with, “Whatever, I’m human,” according to the Tribune. He also denied access to longtime Tribune columnist Gordon Monson at his press conference, as Monson wrote that Malone told a media representative that he would only talk with media members if Monson wasn’t there.
Malone’s presence — at the league’s marquee midseason event, in the city where he once starred — added an awkward twist to the All-Star Weekend. The NBA also included the 59-year-old in an on-court ceremony with LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the All-Star Game Sunday night, which honored James after he passed Malone and Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer for his career. Malone received an ovation from the fans at Vivint Arena, per the Tribune.
Malone scored 36,928 points across his 19-year professional career, while Abdul-Jabbar sat in first place with 38,387 until James inherited the top spot Feb. 7.
