A very popular topic among NBA fans and analysts alike is who was the best player to never win a championship. There are many candidates for that title. In fact, Utah Jazz legends Karl Malone and John Stockton are among the best ones, and among those who believe the former has the title as the best to never win it is Jazz alum Richard Jefferson.
On his podcast, "Road Trippin,'" Jefferson explained why he had Malone over Charles Barkley as the best player to never win a title.
“The reason why I would pick Karl Malone over Charles is because of the level of professionalism that Karl Malone always approached. Karl Malone also had a top-five point guard... in John Stockton... So when I look at Karl Malone versus Charles — when Charles was in Philly, he was in and out of shape, and then he would — some of his off-the-court partying that we knew about…I'm saying Charles was a rebel. He's not a role model, so I'm not taking shots at him.
"But I'm saying, when you look at a guy like Karl Malone, who trained for eight hours a day, he played for 19 years. He was second in scoring. And if his body would have held up, he probably would have been the all-time leading scorer. So when I look at the best player to not win a championship, I'm going to put Karl Malone as No. 1 just because his professional approach was trying to maximize every bit of his talent for a lot of years. That's why his longevity was greater. That's why his health was greater. That's why his consistency was greater in Karl Malone."
It's also hard to argue against the Jazz's consistency during that time. Utah regularly made the playoffs throughout the 1980s and 1990s with consistent production from Malone. As Malone and Stockton fell out of their prime, those Jazz teams declined once the 21st century rolled around, but they were still competing from start to finish.
And as Jefferson pointed out, it's not like Malone did it alone. Having Stockton right by his side certainly factored into the Jazz's consistent excellence year in and year out. However, Malone did everything he could to reach his full potential as a player. Barkley arguably had more talent than Malone did and may have even been the more unique player, but his inability to stay in shape made him fall out of his prime.
Malone may have failed to bring home a title for the Jazz, but not one fan can ever argue that he didn't try his hardest.
One title changes this entire conversation
Without delving too much into what-ifs, it's amazing to think that if the Jazz had just won one title, neither Malone nor Stockton would be discussed in a conversation like this. While they are among the best players who never won it all, there are many all-time greats who won only once.
Players like Gary Payton, Jason Kidd, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, and Paul Pierce, all of whom played around the same time as Malone and Stockton, won exactly one title, so their names don't get mentioned in this conversation.
The "rings or nothing" narrative has always been shallow, but it does reflect on all-time players who simply couldn't get over the hump. In Malone's and Stockton's case, not winning a title looms large over their head because they had so many chances and came close only twice. Even more painful for them is that getting over the hump just once would have put everything to bed.