'I don't need Karl in my life,' Miller says

A relationship once akin to father-and-son has disintegrated into an epic family feud.

Jazz owner Larry H. Miller is blasting ex-Jazz star Karl Malone, whose new team — the Los Angeles Lakers — visits his old one Monday night at the Delta Center.

His ire is so strong Miller does not know what will come of plans to raise a Malone statue outside the Salt Lake City arena — and he questions the status of their longstanding business alliance.

"I don't care," Miller said when asked if he wishes Malone, who now does not plan to play Monday because he's recovering from a torn knee ligament, will approach him to mend their fractures. "I don't need Karl in my life. I'm getting along just fine."

The owner's voice broke as he spoke, but Miller shed none of the tears that so frequently flow when he addresses an emotional issue.

Through his agent, Malone, who played his first 18 NBA seasons in Utah, declined comment Saturday.

But agent Dwight Manley did talk.

"Karl's on edge, rightly so, about where (the Jazz) are coming from," he said. "He (Malone) . . . was always very loyal. He never cried he was hurt and never didn't carry his load.

"So it's kind of sad," Manley added, "for somebody like Larry, who has so much, to cry like a child who has their toy taken away from them."

Miller and Malone feud with frequency but always before managed to patch differences — often with one expressing great fondness for the other.

Asked if the relationship can be repaired yet again, however, Miller sounded uncertain.

"That's up to Karl," he said. "But he's done a lot of damage. So, let's just say justice will be served."

Manley was more optimistic: "I know Karl, deep down, likes Larry and wants to be friends in some fashion. It's the little things that irk him."

Miller is upset with Malone's response to a much-publicized skit, performed with Jazz-brass approval, that mocked Malone and Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant during L.A.'s last Utah visit.

"He's kindergarten-, rookie-, . . . amateurish in his reaction," Miller said late Friday.

"Karl plays to the current crowd. He seems to have no foundation to which he attaches himself and knows who . . . he really is. So he plays to the current crowd, trying to impress them. Every dog has their day."

During a break in play in the Jan. 24 game — one that Malone did not even attend because of his knee injury — the Jazz's mascot, "Bear," answered a phony telephone call delivered over the Delta Center's public-address system.