Final delivery — Malone to hang up his jersey

He already has the hat. He has the boots.

He is passing, however, on the Spurs.

Karl Malone — avid outdoorsman, urban cowboy, two-time Olympic gold-medal winner, former Utah Jazz power forward extraordinaire and the NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer — has decided to retire from basketball rather than sign with the San Antonio Spurs.

"It's about time," said Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan, who has kept in constant touch with Malone since he exited Utah in 2003, uncertain much of that time whether he would call it quits or continue to play.

"Whatever his decision was," added Sloan, who laughed at his own one-liner, "I would support him there — because he's the one who has to be happy. I was unhappy when he left (the Jazz), but he made the right decision all the way around, in my opinion."

Malone's move leaves the NBA with one fewer legend among its playing ranks, one who follows Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and longtime teammate John Stockton into retirement with a legacy of having lived up to his promise.

The Mailman, as he is known, delivered much more often than not.

"He came to play. Came to play every night," said Thurl Bailey, a Jazz teammate of Malone's for eight seasons. "I don't know of any other player that had the work ethic he had."

The fit and chiseled Malone toiled in Utah for 18 years, then left to spend one season with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, coach Phil Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers pursuing, sans success, what he could not win with the Jazz: a championship ring.

Despite trips to the 1997 and '98 NBA Finals, Jazz teams led by Malone and Stockton also always came up short, their two closest climbs to the mountaintop of pro hoops blocked both times by Jordan and the Jackson-coached Chicago Bulls.

When the Lakers broke up last summer, with O'Neal heading to Miami and Jackson retiring, Malone used the offseason for surgery on the knee he hurt in last year's Finals.

Numerous NBA teams have been trying to get him to sign for this season ever since, and he eventually narrowed his options to two: the Spurs or retirement.

Even this week, the 41-year-old Malone led one former Jazz player to believe he would make another ring run, this one with fellow two-time NBA MVP Tim Duncan in San Antonio.

'Luckiest franchise'

The notion of retirement, however, became reality Thursday.

The Jazz released word of Malone's plans Friday morning, announcing Malone will spent Sunday in Salt Lake City for what is bound to be a tear-jerking news conference at the Delta Center.