It's probably best that Karl Malone didn't break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

It's hard to talk about Karl Malone these days. He's someone who will never outlive the scrutiny that has, rightfully, befallen him. His antics as a young man remain reprehensible and aside from some members of the Utah Jazz and the fandom, there aren't many people who actually like, or care about Malone.

When you impregnate a middle school student, it's not surprising that many people don't like you. That's why it's probably good that Malone didn't break the scoring record that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set, though Malone doesn't agree.

The Basketball Network pulled up an old interview from the LA Times that qouted Malone as saying he would've broken Abdul-Jabbar's record had he stayed with the Utah Jazz; with Malone saying;

"I don't get caught up in a lot of the personal records. If you hear what a lot of people say, of course, that would be an unbelievable feat -- don't get me wrong. But sometimes we get so caught up in personal goals. Of course, I could have stayed in Utah, made more money, not get injured, hopefully breaking the scoring record - oh yeah, that was great. But some things still burn, and I've always said, you make decisions in life, and sometimes they don't go as planned."

At the time, many were unaware of Malone's antics. No one knew about the illegitimate children or the underage proclivities or the way he spoke to his own teammate's wife. Now, we do. Having Malone be the face of the NBA, for better or worse, for two decades would've been a hard pill to swallow. Malone was nothing like Abdul-Jabbar, a man who for all intents and purposes, did right by the NBA and the fandom.

He's always been a respectable man, who champions activism and the like, the perfect ex-player to hold the league's most coveted record. Malone, a man nowhere near as respected as Abdul-Jabbar, wouldn't have been able to hide in Utah for as long as he had if he were the name that LeBron James was chasing after and not Abdul-Jabbar.

Thankfully, Malone flamed out at second place during his playing day, falling just 1,459 points behind Malone, which is just one season of averaging 17.8 points a game, something he easily could've done in Utah.

Malone's reputation is what it is, and while he did provide 20 years of memories to the franchise, we think it's fair to say we don't need to see or hear from him ever again.