Rudy Gobert played his first nine NBA seasons in Utah.
The Utah Jazz franchise dates back to 1974, when the team tipped off the first of its five seasons in New Orleans. Since the move to Utah for the 1979-80 season, the team has seen several stalwart defenders patrol the paint.
The list of Utah’s career blocks leaders includes two legends with decade-plus tenures with the team. Here’s a closer look at the top five:
1. Mark Eaton (3,064 blocks)
The late 7-foot-4 Mark Eaton boasted a frame tailor-made for swatting down shots, and fittingly, he was one of the best rim protectors of his generation. That distinction was further corroborated by the three occasions on which he earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors (1985, ’87 and ’89), as well as his two NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards (1985, 1989) Moreover, Eaton finished as the NBA blocks leader in four different seasons (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and is one of three players (Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrew Bynum being the others) to share the record for most blocks in a playoff game (10). Eaton played his entire career in Utah and averaged over four blocks per contest in four separate seasons, including a career-high 5.6 during the 1984-85 campaign.
2. Andrei Kirilenko (1,380 blocks)
Andrei Kirilenko began playing professional basketball at 15 in his native country, Russia, and was a member of the country’s national team in the 2000 Summer Olympics. He was a seasoned pro by the time he made his NBA debut in 2001-02. Kirilenko proved to be a highly versatile big man at 6-foot-9 during his 10-year stint in Utah, averaging double-digit scoring in all but one season and earning All-Defensive Team honors on three occasions overall (one First-Team, two Second-Team). In addition to averaging over a steal per game each season during his Jazz tenure, he also recorded two blocks per game, with two seasons averaging more than three blocks per contest.
3. Rudy Gobert (1,357 blocks)
The seven-footer earned his “Stifle Tower” moniker during an impressive first nine seasons with the Jazz. Gobert was originally selected with the 27th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets, who traded him that night to Utah. Gobert arrived in the NBA with pro experience after playing with the Cholet Basket team in France. He began his NBA ascension during his second season and would go on to average at least two blocks per game in each of his subsequent eight campaigns with the Jazz before his trade to the Timberwolves ahead of the 2022-23 season.
4. Greg Ostertag (1,253 blocks)
Greg Ostertag arrived in Utah as the 28th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft following a college career at Kansas where he graduated with a school and Big 8 conference record of 258 blocks (since surpassed). Ostertag’s 7-foot-2 frame allowed him to continue serving as one of the most consistent shot stuffers of his era, as he recorded at least two blocks per game in four of his Jazz seasons and 1.8 per contest in three other campaigns.
5. Karl Malone (1,125 blocks)
The legendary Karl Malone earned his seemingly endless number of accolades by excelling across the stat sheet, with “The Mailman” serving as a double-double machine throughout his nearly two-decade stay in Utah. The length of his tenure and the fact that the 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP averaged at least one block per game in four seasons helped him pile up enough rejections to make it into the top five in franchise history.
