Karl Malone recently made an appearance at the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend, which sparked a lot of debate. The event was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Malone played professionally for 18 seasons and received several honors, including two MVP titles.
Malone was a great basketball player, but he had horrible off-court conduct. Malone not only preyed upon a 13-year-old girl but also tormented Vanessa Bryant, the late Kobe Bryant’s wife when he was a 20-year-old college basketball star.
The 6-foot-9 power forward played for the LA Lakers with Bryant during his final season of competition. Regrettably, there were controversies even throughout his final season. Malone donned a cowboy hat and boots to the Lakers’ home arena, Staples Center, in 2004, during his lone season with the team.
Vanessa Bryant questioned the NBA veteran about his attire when she saw him: “Hello, cowboy, what are you hunting?” Karl Malone was queried by Vanessa Bryant. Yet given that Bryant’s wife was of Mexican origin, his answer seemed puzzling. Malone said, “I’m hunting for little Mexican girls,”
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Karl Malone harassed Kobe Bryant’s wife, or did he just flirt?
Despite being a fantastic basketball player for 19 years in the NBA, Karl Malone was unable to capture the title. In 1997 and 1998, he came extremely close to winning it all, but Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls came out on top both times. The forward signed with the Lakers in an effort to finally capture a title in 2003-04.
In the City of Angels, the two-time MVP endured his poorest professional season. He played in just 42 games, scoring 13.2 points per contest, a career low.
Karl Malone and Vanessa Bryant were involved in several incidents in addition to this one. One of which turned into a story where Karl Malone harassed Kobe’s wife. The basketball player enquired about Kobe Bryant’s wife’s feelings for him during the same campaign. He was trying to be ignored by Vanessa, who claimed that he was old enough to be her father.
“Oh, just like your father?” Bryant heard Malone say. The former NBA player even made the offer to fight Kobe later. After the confrontation with Bryants, Malone remarked, “I don’t want no issues. But I’m not playing fairly if anything has to go down. If getting down is necessary, then we must do so. I wanted to let you know.”
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