Mailman, Jazz meet

On Tuesday, Jazz basketball operations vice president Kevin O'Connor said he had no plans to travel to the Los Angeles area to meet Wednesday with Karl Malone and his agent.

On Wednesday, O'Connor did just that — traveling to the L.A. area to meet there with the veteran power forward and his agent, Dwight Manley.

But by Thursday, when knowledge of the Wednesday get-together became public, Malone still had made no decision regarding his free-agent future — including the possibility of leaving Utah after 18 seasons to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

"There are several situations that we are reviewing," Manley said early Thursday night.

"All of the situations are fluid," he added, "so we're just continuing to work through the different options."

Later Thursday night, Manley was adamant about the fact Malone was keeping his options open.

"We have not made any commitment with any person or team," the agent said. "Karl has not made any decision."

The Jazz appear unwilling for now to offer the 39-year-old Malone anything more than a multi-year deal that would pay about $5 million next season.

A decision to raise the ante ultimately rests with Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, who did not attend Wednesday's hour-long sitdown, but is believed to be taking some time to ponder the matter.

Malone also met Wednesday with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

The Lakers have their roughly $4.7 million in midlevel exception money to offer Malone, though it is thought they might not be willing to pay the NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer that entire amount.

One possibility Malone apparently might consider, though: Splitting the mid-level money with another big name free agent, like Milwaukee point guard Gary Payton.

Payton reportedly hoped to meet soon with the Lakers, and could be the key to getting Malone to L.A. for less than the full $4.7 million.

Elsewhere, a Fox television affiliate in Dallas reported the Mavericks have offered their midlevel allotment to Miami center Alonzo Mourning.

If that is true and Mourning were to take the deal, it would seem to diminish the likelihood of a potential marriage between Malone and the Mavs — one of the limited number of title-contending teams, along with the Lakers, San Antonio and Sacramento, The Mailman has said he would consider joining should he decide to leave Utah.

That all leaves Malone weighing his various options, which evidently do still include the possibility of staying in Utah, over the Fourth of July weekend.

No decisions are expected until sometime next week at the earliest.

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E-MAIL: tbuckley@desnews.com