San Antonio Spurs: Biggest Spurs Villain of All Time – Silver Conference

Cheap Shot Artist Division: 2. Karl Malone vs. 7. Jason Terry

2. Karl Malone

There are many, many reasons to dislike Karl Malone, from his off-court allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a minor to the fact that a full-length article can be written about his dirty elbow plays alone. Since I’m talking about villainous traits regarding the Spurs, I’ll stick with the latter issue.

In April 1998, the Spurs took on Malone and the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center. Not even halfway through the first quarter, David Robinson became a victim of Malone’s infamous elbows. After Robinson deflected an entry pass to Malone from John Stockton to Malone, Karl decided to wildly swing his other elbow, nailing The Admiral directly in the temple.

Robinson spent the night in the hospital, and Malone was suspended one game and fined $5,000 for the incident. There are many more stories of Karl seriously hurting players on the court, including the time he caused Isiah Thomas to get 40 stitches by elbowing him on a driving layup attempt.

It was easy to despise Karl Malone on the court, and is just as easy to despise him off it.

7. Jason Terry

There’s no other way to put it, Jason Terry was annoying. On the court, he was a better-than-average role player for the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 16.1 points and 4.1 assists per game, but his celebrations were just plain irritating. If you’re not familiar, see the photo above.

Terry would do an “airplane flying” gesture anytime he made a big play, playing into the fact that his nickname was The Jet.

Even that part is annoying — there was already a better player named The Jet in Kenny Smith, but I digress.

Terry also had his own cheap shot back in the 2006 playoffs while chasing a loose ball in a crucial Game 5. As a scrum ensued with Terry, Michael Finley, and Manu Ginobili, Terry then punched Finley where no man would ever like to be punched.

Terry was suspended for Game 6 for the play, but the Mavericks were still able to narrowly defeat San Antonio that year in seven games.

So there you have it: 16 unlikable men, eight showdowns to narrow down the field. Stay tuned to our site and @AirAlamo on Twitter to vote and follow the results of the tournament.