"He told me what he wanted to do," said Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, who promised Malone he would withhold personal comments until Sunday. "We talked about it — had a good talk about it. I thought he was very mature.

"What we first talked about was whether to just say, 'There's going to be a press conference.' That's what he wanted to do. I said, 'No.' Because everybody's going to say, 'Is he going to retire, or is he going to play . . . for the Jazz?' when he's in the Delta Center."

Malone agreed, because retirement — even for someone who has made a career of changing his mind — now seems to be his certain plan.

The man who once vowed he would never flip-flop like Jordan — who retired three different times — must finally know what he wants.

"He gave this a lot of thought and consideration," said Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, "and he's comfortable with his decision."

Malone exits with 36,928 regular season points to his credit, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387, and the undying respect of the head coach he had for 15 seasons.

"The fact he was able to withstand the test of time, and do the stuff that he did for so long, day in and day out," Sloan said, "was incredible.

"This franchise has been one of the luckiest franchises, when you look at (Stockton and Malone). . . . It's just unthinkable to think guys can play as long, and as hard, as they did every night," he added. "People came at them every day. Every time they stepped on the floor, somebody was being measured by playing against John Stockton or playing against Karl Malone."

'Love' and 'hate'

As much as teammates cherished playing with him, opponents could not stand facing Malone's sharp elbows and oft-extended knees.

Basketball fans in locales around the world — some of whom even turned into NBA players themselves — also grew to either love or despise Malone.

"He's one of the greatest players in the NBA all-time," said Andrei Kirilenko, the young Russian-born Jazz All-Star who was Malone's teammate for two seasons.

"He's the best power forward of all time," said Carlos Boozer, a Malone admirer from Duke University who now occupies the power-forward position in Utah. "I mean, he scored, he rebounded, he defended, he's been to championships, he's won MVPs, All-Star MVPs. He's the guy that defined the position."

"I never got a chance to play with him, but I watched him for years and years," current Jazz co-captain Raja Bell said. "I hated him. Really, I did. He was always playing the Bulls. The Bulls were 'my team,' so I was a Karl Malone-hater. But, I always had a great appreciation for what he did. He was pretty awesome."