Lakers Legend Karl Malone challenged Lakers guard Kobe Bryant—who is already injured—to a fight.
The tension is a decade old by now; late in 2004, Kobe accused his teammate Karl of making a pass at his wife during a game. Kobe—who later passed on his own wife for another woman—was not very happy with the Mailman’s delivery.
In an interview with Marc Lamont Hill from the Huffington Post, the NBA’s second all-time leader in points gave the NBA’s third all-time leader in points an open invitation to knuckle up:
“It’s a standing offer,” Malone said. “Look, I don’t want no trouble. I don’t have a problem. People say whatever they want to say and that’s great. I’m 6-9, 272 [pounds] to be exact. I’m not hard to find. I don’t want no trouble. But if something got to go down, I’m not playing fair.”
The power forward—who lost three times in the NBA Finals—further exasperated his opinion by saying he’d, “[L]ike to line up all 5 of Kobe’s championship trophies in a well-lit thicket, and run them sons-‘a-guns over with [his] 16-wheeler,” and that he’d, “like to do a diamond-cutter on the rascal like [he] did to Dennis Rodman.”
Kobe Bryant is said to be checking to see if Michael Jordan has ever fought Karl Malone before agreeing to the melee.