My dad is an NBA legend who made $101m – now I run a cigar and vape store in very different career path
NBA legend Karl Malone has turned his love of cigars into a lucrative family-run business.
The Utah Jazz icon runs Legends Cigar and Vape in the small town of Ruston, Louisiana, with his daughter Kadee.
In addition to premium cigars, the rustic cigar lounge also sells traditional pipe, vape products, and CBD oils.
Legends is a 50-50 partnership between Malone and his daughter but the NBA legend describes Kadee as "the boss lady."
“We’re 50-50 but at the same time, I say 90-10 because I do everything," Kadee told the Deseret News.
"He just kind of shows up!
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“But really, though, even when people come here and ask, ‘Karl, can I do this?’ he’ll be like, ‘Woah, let me call the boss lady first’ so he has to call me.
"So he doesn’t do anything without me saying yes.”
Malone, who made $101 million in his NBA career, can often be found in Legends smoking and talking.
“Cigar stores can be home to anybody," Malone told Smokeshop magazine.
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"So you could have a banker in here, a governor in here, but then you could have someone off the street and they’d be in here.
"Here at Legends, we don’t have [a single] TV in here, because people should sit and talk while they smoke.
"It makes for a great community.”
Legends also carries the NBA's own cigar 'La Aurora Barrel Aged by Karl Malone.'
The cigars use an Ecuadoran wrapper over Brazilian binder and fillers from Peru, Nicaragua, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic.
They come in four sizes and feature an orange basketball on the band.
Kadee's big passion is CBD products, which helped her with knee problems after playing basketball and running track in high school, as well as her acne.
She now has her own line of CBD products.
Legends is located in the Malone Town district, next to the family's Teriyaki Grill restaurant, clothing store and apartment complex near Louisiana State University.
“When I say we do everything together as a family...I mean like everything,” Kadee said.
"It’s really just because we’re all best friends...
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"That’s kind of why we have all these businesses in this one area, and it’s funny because everyone here calls this area 'Malone Town'."
Kadee also has future plans to open a smoke shop in Southern Nevada.