3.6 composite · lower is better
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Player profile · LAL / UTA
Karl Malone
Karl Malone advanced stats and career rankings
3.2 average league finish
7,363 total value
Bottom line · Career overview
Karl Malone ranks #23 all time. 5 top-five finishes and 11 top-ten finishes give him a strong blend of peak and staying power. His full-career value ranks #7, so longevity is a major reason he lands this high. Explore Karl Malone's advanced stats by season, era-adjusted impact, workload, and historical comparisons.
Career standing
How Karl Malone ranks all time
These are league placements, not raw scores. Each season is judged against that season's qualified player pool.
Best in the league
Elite finishes
Upper-tier finishes
Standard deviations across scoring seasons
Career Composite3.6
Equal average of Best 3, Prime 5, and Best 10 league finishes. The overlapping windows make this explicitly peak-weighted. Lower is better.
- Best 3 weight
- 63.3%
- Score
- 3.6
- Qualified seasons
- 19
- All-time rank
- #23
Strongest seasons
Every season
Karl Malone advanced stats by season
Era-centered box impact supports comparisons through time. Impact Rate and its rank compare players only within that season.
| Season | Team | Age | GP | MP | Era-centered box impact | Impact Rate | Rate rank | Season Value | Value percentile | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04Historical Defense Estimate | LAL | 40 | 42 | 1,373 | +2.63 | 87.9 | #41 | 122.2 | 77th | Strong |
| 2002–03Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 39 | 81 | 2,936 | +4.20 | 94.7 | #18 | 338.4 | 97th | Strong |
| 2001–02Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 38 | 80 | 3,040 | +3.95 | 93.5 | #22 | 340.1 | 95th | Strong |
| 2000–01Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 37 | 81 | 2,895 | +5.52 | 98.2 | #7 | 407.4 | 97th | Strong |
| 1999–00Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 36 | 82 | 2,947 | +7.16 | 99.7 | #2 | 504.1 | 99th | Strong |
| 1998–99Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 35 | 49 | 1,832 | +5.91 | 98.2 | #6 | 262.7 | 98th | Strong |
| 1997–98Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 34 | 81 | 3,030 | +6.22 | 99.1 | #4 | 463.0 | 100th | Strong |
| 1996–97Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 33 | 82 | 2,998 | +7.35 | 99.7 | #2 | 525.5 | 100th | Strong |
| 1995–96Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 32 | 82 | 3,113 | +6.49 | 98.8 | #5 | 495.7 | 99th | Strong |
| 1994–95Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 31 | 82 | 3,126 | +4.51 | 96.1 | #13 | 392.6 | 97th | Strong |
| 1993–94Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 30 | 82 | 3,329 | +5.35 | 97.6 | #8 | 474.4 | 98th | Strong |
| 1992–93Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 29 | 82 | 3,099 | +7.29 | 99.3 | #3 | 578.9 | 99th | Strong |
| 1991–92Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 28 | 81 | 3,054 | +5.29 | 96.9 | #10 | 442.9 | 98th | Strong |
| 1990–91Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 27 | 82 | 3,302 | +5.26 | 95.9 | #13 | 475.7 | 98th | Strong |
| 1989–90Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 26 | 82 | 3,122 | +6.07 | 97.6 | #8 | 504.6 | 98th | Strong |
| 1988–89Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 25 | 80 | 3,126 | +5.36 | 97.3 | #8 | 469.6 | 97th | Strong |
| 1987–88Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 24 | 82 | 3,198 | +2.18 | 88.4 | #30 | 282.6 | 93rd | Strong |
| 1986–87Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 23 | 82 | 2,857 | +1.58 | 84.8 | #40 | 220.2 | 89th | Strong |
| 1985–86Historical Defense Estimate | UTA | 22 | 81 | 2,475 | -0.83 | 45.7 | #139 | 62.4 | 54th | Strong |
Career movement
Karl Malone's career impact by season
Peak +7.35 in 1996–97 · 19 seasons · 54,852 minutes
The same historical box-score model is used for every season, making the career shape comparable through time. This is separate from the current lineup-context ranking.
Era-centered box impactMinutes
Across-era box estimateWorkload
Career comparison
Compare the shape, not the calendar
Align by NBA experience to compare season one with season one, or by age to compare players at the same stage of life.
Karl MaloneTim Duncan
NBA season number · fixed impact axis −5 to +15
Similar career arcs
Players with careers similar to Karl Malone
The score compares era-centered box impact, peak, prime, workload, career length, position, and trajectory aligned by NBA experience. It describes career shape, not playing style or equal ability.
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90%career match
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88%career match
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88%career match
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85%career match
88% season match · 1992–93 ↔ 2005–06Impact Rate shows how strong a player was compared with everyone else that season. Season Value adds how much he played. The career ranking rewards a high peak, a long prime, and repeated seasons near the top. Older seasons use clearly labeled estimates where the NBA did not record today's full set of statistics. Read how every ranking works →