Malone, Moses E.
Basketball
b. March 23, 1955, Petersburg, VA
Petersburg High School won 50 consecutive games and two state championships while Malone was playing there. In 1974, he became the first player in modern times to go directly from high school to professional basketball, signing a five-year, $3 million contract with the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association.
A 6-foot-10, 250-pound center, Malone averaged 18.8 points a game as a rookie, but the franchise folded and he joined the St. Louis Spirits in 1975. After missing a good part of the season with a broken foot, he jumped to the NBA, playing for the Portland Trailblazers, the Buffalo Braves, and the Houston Rockets in his first year.
Malone was named the league's most valuable player for the 1978-79 season, when he averaged 24.8 points and 17.6 rebounds per game, and again in 1981-82, when he averaged 31.1 points and 14.7 rebounds. He signed with the Philadelphia 76ers after that season and won his second straight MVP award and third overall in 1983. In 1984-85, he led the NBA in rebounding for the fifth year in a row.
The 76ers traded him to the Washington Bullets after the 1985-86 season. Malone went to the Atlanta Hawks in 1988 and the Milwaukee Bucks in 1991. After missing most of the 1992-93 season with an injury, Malone became a backup with Philadelphia in 1993-94. He retired after appearing in only 17 games with the San Antonio Spurs the following season.
In 17 NBA seasons, Malone scored 27,066 points in 1,257 regular season games, an average of 21.5, and had 9,335 rebounds. He added 2,077 points and 1,295 rebounds in 94 playoff games. Malone was named to the all-NBA team in 1979, 1982, 1983, and 1985.