Built like a tight end, Malone has size and strength that make him difficult to defend in the low block, but he also runs the floor, fills the lane on the fast break, and shoots a deadly medium-range jumper.

Malone and point guard John Stockton formed the most consistent guard-forward combination of the modern era and have made the Utah Jazz one of the league's most successful franchises for more than a decade. Malone was a member of the original Dream Team that won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and he reprised that role on the Dream Team that struck gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and was named to the 2003 USA Basketball Senior National Team that will be playing in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in August.

Malone was still a relative unknown when the Jazz selected him with the 13th overall pick in the 1985 NBA Draft-but he established himself quickly. After a fine rookie campaign (14.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg), Malone began a string of seasons virtually unmatched by power forwards in NBA annals. For six seasons beginning in 1987-88 his scoring averages were 27.7, 29.1, 31.0, 29.0, 28.0 and 27.0 points per game, respectively, and his rebounding averages ranged between 10.7 and 12.4 boards per contest.

That year he also began a string of 11 consecutive All-Star selections, and in 1989 he started a streak of 10 consecutive berths on the All-NBA First Team. Malone was Most Valuable Player of the 1989 All-Star Game and co-MVP (along with Stockton) of the All-Star Game played at Salt Lake City in 1993.

He finally reached the NBA Finals in 1997 after dethroning Michael Jordan as the NBA's MVP. Malone ranked second in the league in scoring, sixth in field goal percentage and 11th in rebounding in 1996-97. But in the title series, it was Jordan's Bulls who beat Malone's Jazz 4-2.

Malone and the Jazz suffered a similar fate in 1998, though this time it was Jordan who went into the Finals as the NBA's reigning MVP. Malone's season was comparable to his MVP year as he ranked third in the league in scoring, sixth in rebounding and ninth in field goal percentage. During the season he moved into fourth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list, trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordan.