How Dominant Was Moses Malone? 1 Stat Tells the Whole Story
Moses Malone played 21 years of professional basketball, was a 13-time All-Star and has his place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The former Philadelphia 76ers and Houston Rockets star’s resume speaks for itself. But just how good was the 6-foot-10 center who went straight from high school to the pros? One statistic shows all you need to know about how dominant The Chairman of the Boards really was.
Moses Malone was a three-time MVP and 1983 NBA champion
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Malone became the first player in the modern era to jump directly from high school to professional basketball. The Utah Stars of the ABA selected him in the third round of the 1974 ABA Draft out of Petersburg High School in Virginia.
Malone played in the NBA from 1976 to 1995. He captured the first of his three MVP awards during the 1978-79 season with the Rockets. He averaged 24.8 points and a league-high 17.6 rebounds while shooting 54% from the floor.
After making his first NBA Finals appearance in 1981 and winning his second MVP in 1982, Malone tested free agency. After matching the 76ers offer, the Rockets traded Malone to Philadelphia. The Sixers were fresh off another Finals appearance against the Los Angeles Lakers. LA had beaten Philadelphia in the championship round in 1980 and again in ’82. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was too much to handle, so the Sixers turned to Malone for an inside presence.
The teams met again in the 1983 NBA Finals after Malone secured his second straight MVP award with his new team. He became the first NBA player to win consecutive MVPs with two different teams.
During the regular season, Malone put up 24.5 points and 15.3 rebounds. He led the NBA in rebounding for the third straight year. Philadelphia dominated the postseason, losing just once in the playoffs. The Sixers swept the Lakers in the Finals, with Malone securing the Finals MVP.
How dominant was Malone? Check out this stat
For his NBA career, Malone put up 20.6 points and 12.2 rebounds. He had 12 straight All-Star appearances, is a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.
His numbers are great, but they hit a staggering level when it comes to offensive rebounds. He is far and away the greatest offensive rebounder in the history of the sport. Nobody is even in the same zip code.
Just counting his NBA numbers, Malone easily tops the list with 6,731 offensive boards in his career. Second on that list is former Boston Celtics center Robert Parish with 4,598. Malone eclipses Parish, a Hall of Famer who played more NBA games than anyone, by 2,133 offensive rebounds.
For the heck of it, we looked into his offensive rebounds that include his ABA stats. Malone has a total of 7,382. Second place on the NBA/ABA combined list is Artis Gilmore with 4,816.
It’s clear why Malone earned the Chairman of the Boards nickname.
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