Buried on Page 178 of “The Breaks of the Game,” David Halberstam’s illuminating 1981 book about professional basketball, is a telling and amusing passage underscoring the dumbfounding disposability of Moses Malone early in his Hall of Fame career.
As a result of the 1976 merger of the American Basketball Association with the N.B.A., and the dispersal of players from the folding A.B.A. teams, Malone and his hefty $300,000-a-year contract had gone to the Portland Trail Blazers. Among others, Bill Walton warned that Malone, only 21, was too talented to trade, but Portland’s front office loathed to overpay for what figured to be Walton’s backup at center on what turned out to be a championship team.