On May 2, 2003, John Stockton became a retiree in typical John Stockton fashion. There was no elaborate news conference, no media frenzy, no promise of a parade through downtown Salt Lake City.
Instead, Stockton, in an aside to reporters as he was cleaning out his locker after the 2002-03 season, said he intended to hang up his sneakers just days after the Utah Jazz fell to Chris Webber and the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs. It was the right decision, Stockton said.
"No question in my mind," he said. "I played a lot of Basketball at that point and the things I was looking for far outweighed the things I would have enjoyed about Basketball, if I had kept playing . . . I was looking forward to being home and getting to see my kids in whatever venue they were choosing. That wrestling match was becoming more difficult and unpleasant every year, so, yeah, it was the right time."
Karl Malone soon followed suit -- not by retiring, but by defecting to the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent to pursue an elusive championship ring with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Payton.
"We always thought that the end was a probability with every passing year," said Matt Harpring, a teammate of Stockton and Malone in that era and currently the Jazz's oldest player. "We never knew exactly when it would come, but there was always that possibility."
With each passing season, it became harder for Stockton and Malone to play at the level to which they had become accustomed.
What many saw as their last chance at a championship came in the 1998-99 season, which was shortened by the lockout. The Jazz finished 37-13, but because games were jammed into a condensed time frame, the older Utah team tired down the stretch, going 5-5 in the last 10 games. The Jazz barely defeated an upstart Sacramento team in the first round of the playoffs and finally lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round.
That started a downward trend over the next few years that, if not particularly drastic, was steady and hard to ignore.
The next three seasons again brought a second-round loss to the Blazers, followed by a stunning first-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks, followed by another loss to the Kings, again in the first round.
Through this period, Stockton and Malone continued to post solid numbers, but their impact on the game dwindled as the two began to age. They were Jazz's twin anchors to the end, but clearly diminished in their ability to impose their will on opponents.
But they did recognize when it was time to go, and they did go out together. Really, could it have ended any differently?
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Tribune reporter STEVE LUHM contributed to this story. Alt Heads:
Slow decline paves all-star duo's exit
