Welcome to the NBA 75, The Athletic’s countdown of the 75 best players in NBA history, in honor of the league’s diamond anniversary. We’ll unveil a new player on the list every weekday through Feb. 18, culminating with the man picked by a panel of The Athletic NBA staff members as the greatest of all time.
The phone rang before sunrise, its peal shattering the tranquility of a quiet summer pre-dawn in Spokane Valley, where John Stockton returned home during each NBA offseason.
Stockton fumbled for the phone and was greeted with a familiar, booming drawl.
“You getting your work done, son?” Karl Malone bellowed, the clang of steel plates colliding in the background. “Because I am.”
Stockton looked at the clock and did quick math. It wasn’t quite 6 a.m. in Arkansas, where his Utah Jazz teammate spent parts of his summer. At home in Washington, Stockton was two hours behind.
For the most celebrated pick-and-roll duo in basketball history, this was a different kind of two-man game. Stockton preferred to work out at night and would return the favor with a mid-session call to rouse the resting Malone.
It was brotherly pranking. Malone-to-Stockton, Stockton-to-Malone.
“That was kind of a fun way to jab at each other,” Stockton told The Athletic, “and make sure we’re both doing our work.
