NBA great Moses Malone passed away today in Norfolk, Virginia, at the age of 60. Malone, a 6-10 center who played 19 seasons in the NBA, was a three-time NBA MVP (1979, 1982, and 1983) who also won an NBA title with the 1982-1983 Philadelphia 76ers team that included Julius Erving, Maurice Cheeks, and Bobbie Jones. Malone was an extremely tenacious rebounder who was nicknamed the “Chairman of the Boards.” However, he is perhaps best remembered as the first NBA player to enter the NBA directly from high school without playing college basketball.
Malone graduated from high school in 1974 and entered the now defunct American Basketball Association (ABA), where he played for two seasons. When the ABA folded, Malone was drafted by Portland and then traded to the Buffalo Braves (now the LA Clippers) in a dispersal draft. After two games in Buffalo in the 1976-77 season, he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he prospered with the competition and increased maturity. In 1979, at the age of 24, Moses Malone won his first NBA MVP award, averaging 24.8 points and 17.6 rebounds per game in the regular season. He repeated his NBA MVP performance in 1982 with 31.1 points and 14.7 rebounds per game.
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The 1982-83 season found Moses Malone in Philadelphia playing alongside legendary “Dr. J” on the 76ers. He excelled once again, averaging 24.5 points and 15.3 rebounds per game while winning both the NBA MVP award and the NBA Finals MVP award. Malone also produced his famous prediction of “Fo’, Fo’, Fo’,” stating that the 76ers would sweep all three of their opponents in the playoffs. He was only off by the one game that the 76ers lost to the LA Lakers (with Kareem, Magic, and James Worthy) in the finals.
That season would prove to be the zenith of Moses Malone’s basketball career, although he would have eight more double-double seasons (points and rebounds). He was traded five more times to five different teams over the next twelve seasons. Maybe his talents on the basketball court were never truly appreciated. Perhaps coaches did not know how to “coach” this immense talent. We’ll never know for sure why such a talented basketball player played on eight different NBA teams.
Nonetheless, Moses Malone was a twelve-time NBA All-Star who is still the NBA’s leader in offensive rebounds in a career, a season, and a game. For his career, he averaged 20.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game, including playoffs. He was chosen as one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players. In 2001, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Overall, then, he did quite well without a college degree. His regular season stats for all 19 seasons are shown in the table below. Goodbye, Moses, and thanks for all the great basketball!
| SEASON | TEAM | GP | FG% | FT% | OR | DR | REB | BLK | PF | PTS |
| 1976-77 | Buffalo | 2 | .000 | .000 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| 1976-77 | Houston | 80 | .480 | .693 | 5.5 | 7.9 | 13.4 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 13.5 |
| 1977-78 | Houston | 59 | .499 | .718 | 6.4 | 8.6 | 15.0 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 19.4 |
| 1978-79 | Houston | 82 | .540 | .739 | 7.2 | 10.5 | 17.6 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 24.8 |
| 1979-80 | Houston | 82 | .502 | .719 | 7.0 | 7.5 | 14.5 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 25.8 |
| 1980-81 | Houston | 80 | .522 | .757 | 5.9 | 8.8 | 14.8 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 27.8 |
| 1981-82 | Houston | 81 | .519 | .762 | 6.9 | 7.8 | 14.7 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 31.1 |
| 1982-83 | Philadelphia | 78 | .501 | .761 | 5.7 | 9.6 | 15.3 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 24.5 |
| 1983-84 | Philadelphia | 71 | .483 | .750 | 5.0 | 8.4 | 13.4 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 22.7 |
| 1984-85 | Philadelphia | 79 | .469 | .815 | 4.9 | 8.2 | 13.1 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 24.6 |
| 1985-86 | Philadelphia | 74 | .458 | .787 | 4.6 | 7.2 | 11.8 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 23.8 |
| 1986-87 | Washington | 73 | .454 | .824 | 4.7 | 6.6 | 11.3 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 24.1 |
| 1987-88 | Washington | 79 | .487 | .788 | 4.7 | 6.5 | 11.2 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 20.3 |
| 1988-89 | Atlanta | 81 | .491 | .789 | 4.8 | 7.0 | 11.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 20.2 |
| 1989-90 | Atlanta | 81 | .480 | .781 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 10.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 18.9 |
| 1990-91 | Atlanta | 82 | .468 | .831 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 8.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 10.6 |
| 1991-92 | Milwaukee | 82 | .474 | .786 | 3.9 | 5.2 | 9.1 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 15.6 |
| 1992-93 | Milwaukee | 11 | .310 | .774 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 4.2 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 4.5 |
| 1993-94 | Philadelphia | 55 | .440 | .769 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 5.3 |
| 1994-95 | San Antonio | 17 | .371 | .688 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 2.9 |
| Career | 1329 | .491 | .769 | 5.1 | 7.1 | 12.2 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 20.6 |
