Mavs high on Karl's short list

Karl Malone will seriously consider playing for the Dallas Mavericks, the Jazz's free-agent power forward told a Dallas newspaper on Friday.

"They (the Mavs) are definitely high on my list," Malone said in Saturday's edition of The Dallas Morning News. "And I don't have a very big list, either."

Malone, the NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer, is believed to also be considering San Antonio, the Los Angeles Lakers and perhaps Sacramento if he does not return for a 19th season in Utah.

NBA teams can begin negotiating with free agents beginning July 1 but cannot actually sign them until July 15 at the earliest.

Unless some sort of sign-and-trade deal were to be worked out, Dallas probably could not offer Malone anything more than the league's so-called "mid-level exception" salary of around $4.5 million. The Jazz are believed to be willing to offer Malone at least $7 million to return, much less than the $19.25 million he made this past season.

Money, however, may not be the only issue.

Malone, who turns 40 years old on July 24, must determine whether he would rather leave Utah to pursue a legitimate chance at winning an NBA title in the next two or three seasons from somewhere like Dallas, San Antonio or Los Angeles, or if he wants to stay with the Jazz and continue to chase Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record.

Dallas was eliminated from title contention this year with a loss last week in the Western Conference Finals to San Antonio, which now faces Eastern Conference-champ New Jersey for the 2002-03 NBA championship.

The Mavs consider front-court help their biggest need for next season — another factor that could sway Malone, should he decide to leave Utah.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com