Stars that had title hopes ruined by Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls: Karl Malone
Two of the former superstars around the NBA landscape in the 1990s that almost assuredly would’ve got at least one ring if not for Jordan and the Bulls during that decade of dominance in Chicago round out this list. The first name up here from the Utah Jazz is known to be one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
The Hall-of-Famer, 14-time All-Star selection, and two-time NBA MVP, Karl Malone is also one of the best to ever play in this league without winning a ring. You could argue that he and Barkley are definitely two of the four or five best to ever do it in the NBA without winning a title at some point. And you can thank Jordan and the Bulls for both of these legendary forwards ending up in that category in the first place.
It’s hard to even find two or three power forwards that had more individual accolades during their playing days in the NBA than “The Mailman”. Malone was as dominant of scoring and rebounding big man as you could find in the Western Conference during the 1990s. And he was solid against Jordan and the Bulls in the two NBA Finals series where they met late in the decade.
Both meetings between the Jazz and the Bulls in the NBA Finals (in 1997 and 1998, respectively) were pushed to six games. That was clearly a trend for the 1990s Bulls in the Finals.
Malone was very dominant throughout both of those playoff runs with the Jazz too. He averaged around 26 points per game, 11 rebounds, four assists, 1.5 steals, and one block, in the playoffs in 1997 and 1998. The Bulls definitely didn’t have a big man capable of putting up that type of stat line.
Yet, it still wasn’t enough for Malone and the Jazz to top Jordan and the Bulls in 1997 or 1998. Malone also would come up shy of a few chances at a ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in the following decade.