Jazz, Malone Agree To Deal
Karl Malone and Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller have agreed on a new contract that would be signed when the NBA All-Star forward becomes a free agent in July.
The owner and player, who had been at odds during the off-season and NBA lockout, said Thursday they resolved their differences in a marathon meeting Wednesday night.
"I listened to him express concerns, excitement and dreams about the future," said Miller, who fought tears through a 90-minute news conference. "The Karl Malone I know is still alive and well."
The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, and The Salt Lake Tribune, which did not cite a source, said the prospective four-year contract would pay Malone an average of $16.5 million per season. The Post said the contract includes an option year. The Tribune said it would take effect in 1999-2000.
Miller, Malone and Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, all denied Thursday that any such deal had even been discussed.
"I'd like to have an agreement, but we can't right now," Miller said, referring to a clause in the league's new collective bargaining agreement that forbids a veteran from signing a new contract until his existing one has expired.
Miller was among several owners who fought unsuccessfully to delete that clause from the new agreement.
The deal cited by the newspapers would represent the maximum the Jazz can offer their franchise player under the new agreement. Malone, who has never been an unrestricted free agent, is in the final year of a four-year, $20.2 million contract.
Malone is the only one of 10 Jazz players under contract who hasn't attended the team's workouts at its new practice facility in West Valley City during the past two weeks.
The informal deal between Malone and Miller is another twist in the Mailman's strange odyssey since the Jazz lost their second consecutive NBA Finals in June to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
While the lockout dragged on, Malone took up professional wrestling and started a sports talk show. On Nov. 11, he said he would demand a trade when the lockout ended.
Though he retracted the comment days later, the father-son relationship between Malone and Miller appeared strained. But Jazz executives remained confident that Malone, who never has played for another team, would be back for the final year of his contract.
"We've had too many great years with Karl Malone. That type of commitment is something you don't take lightly and you don't forget," Jazz general manager Tim Howells said. "We want Karl back. We want Karl to finish his career here."
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