How did Karl Malone win NBA MVP in 1999?

[JtotheIzzo]

Duncan was the MVP, it was a lifetime service award they gave to Malone.

The Spurs rolled everyone that year and it was Tim's team, Robinson was not the factor that people remember. Duncan was a beast. He was rewarded in later years, so people forget this oversight.

[necya]

Malone was the right choice in my opinion.
if i remember well, the Jazz were one of those team with the best record. it was a performance for me, looking at the team. stock and hornacek did not play the same important role, playing less minutes. Russell was ok, without being great and was the second offensive weapon.
no, really i don't see how Duncan has been robbed as DRob still did a very good job defensively, plus San Antonio had a better bench.
O'Neal ? no way he was top 5.

i keep in mind that Malone, without being the old one (he was 36 damn) did a pretty good job with what he had around him that year. so i agree with the top 3 voting.

i also remember that it was an horrible year, the level of the league going from bad to worse with the time.

[ShaqAttack3234]

DRob still did a very good job defensively

Yeah, Robinson's defense was still elite. He was a top 5 defensive player, imo until 2001 even though his offensive role diminished. Around that time, I think he was pretty much as good as Duncan defensively. He had a very solid playoff run as well. Made a big impact vs the Knicks undersized frontline, led the Spurs in scoring during the WCF vs Portland and I think he guarded Shaq almost exclusively in the WCSF and the Spurs shut him down. I haven't seen the series in 12 years, but I'm 95% sure that Duncan barely guarded Shaq.