Final Piece of the Puzzle: K. Malone to Lakers

I'm not sure if this is new info but from what I get from it, it looks like he's signing with the Lakers.

By Scott Howard-Cooper
Special to ESPN.com

No need to hold a press conference.

No need for long-winded explanations.

Just a signature.

Nothing will speak louder. Karl Malone, barring a late change of heart, is expected to sign with the Lakers for $1.5 million next season, and that will say everything.

Karl Malone, left, needs 2,014 points to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career scoring record.
The player some have insisted would be motivated by money will make less than several rookies.

The player some -- most -- have claimed will make chasing the career scoring record the priority will join a team where he knows ahead of time he would be the third option at best.

Bold answers. In cursive.

The ring's the thing. Malone is putting it all on the line -- millions of dollars, potentially Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's scoring mark that means so much to him -- in a quest to win a championship that runs so deep that he stepped away even from the mid-level exception in hopes the Lakers could use it on Gary Payton. There is talking about wanting a title, and there is doing something about it.

There isn't anything more he could say. Less money, less touches. More of a chance.

The level of his commitment shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. Malone has his tunnel-vision moments, suggesting the Jazz has not treated him well in statements that slap at the face of an owner rightfully angered, but he has always been in shape and has always worked to improve his game and has always dealt in playing the game the right way. USA Basketball picked him to play the next two summers, and to represent the country, an offset to the many claims through the years that he is a dirty player. It's like his last two seasons in Utah. He handled the losing and the mistakes of the youth movement much better than the veteran team of 2001-02 loaded with veterans breaking off plays to pad their stats as free agency loomed.

"I feel that I can play anywhere that guys compete," he said. "They're competitors and they want to win every night."

And still, if Malone ends up in Los Angeles, the doubts will continue.

Fitting in? He's not even the biggest locker-room uncertainty among the free agents. Malone can't carry Payton's glove when it comes to being behind-the-scenes flammable. Either way, they would both arrive with a clear understanding that the Lakers are already over the power-struggle cap. Malone could light the fuse and Payton could flick the pack of firecrackers into the middle of the room and no one would notice if Shaquille O'Neal, Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant are back to playing high-noon showdown.

Talent? Malone has more prolonged slumps than ever and isn't the dominant post player of yesteryear, but as the third or fourth option on offense? C'mon. He will still beat most big men downcourt and still get to line. The second-greatest scorer ever is also an underrated passer. He prefers his offense to come on the perimeter now, conveniently, in this case, away from any potential interior traffic jam with O'Neal.

Grabbing a rebound with one hand while holding his Social Security checks in the other? Golden State coach Eric Musselman said it three months ago: "What you'll see in their transition offense, he still runs the floor as well as anybody. In the power set, he runs right to the rim and he pins people and he gets three or four chippy layups every game just because it's so hard to get around him. He's so strong. He hasn't lost any strength. If anything, he keeps getting stronger. His body fat goes down every year."

Downsizing his role? The Lakers have been his first choice all along, on a list that also included the Mavericks, Kings and Spurs among the real possibilities Every time Malone imagined himself in L.A., and it has been often, it was always a smog-free vision: He would go as a complementary player, not anymore as The Guy. There will be an adjustment, but not a shock to the system.

The Abdul-Jabbar record is important to him. To Malone, the accomplishment would stand as an affirmation of his greatness, or at least put it on a different level, and he would cherish that place in history.

A championship does much the same thing, though. Others have rings, except that now it's Malone trying to become one of the crowd, select as it may be, because he doesn't want to retire without one. It's not just a throw-away party line either. On July 16, it can become an indisputable fact that he is willing to do whatever it takes to get there, without having to say a thing.

 

On ESPN.com, it's on the front page:

http://msn.espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0710/1579083.html

Malone makes move, heads to Lakers

The Mailman delivered his decision.

A league source told ESPN the Magazine's Ric Bucher that Karl Malone has decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers. The move comes just days after Gary Payton joined the team as well.

Malone showed strong interest in the Lakers from the start of the free-agent negotiations on July 1, to a degree that the Hall of Fame-bound power forward is apparently willing to join the dethroned champions for a mere $1.5 million -- a cut of almost $18 million from his 2002-03 salary.

The $1.5 million figure is the most L.A. could offer Malone next season after committing its $4.9 million mid-level exception to Payton. Malone would have likely been able to get more money if he signed with San Antonio, Sacramento or Dallas.

The Jazz were exploring sign-and-trade possibilities (with the Kings) and the Lakers' three West rivals were hesitant to let Malone join L.A.'s new star trio unopposed.

But it was believed that Malone, who turns 40 on July 24, wasn't considering re-signing with the Jazz for less than the $8 million earned by John Stockton in his final season.

With Malone signing elsewhere, and with Stockton opting for retirement, Utah likely has nearly $20 million in salary-cap space to undertake a dramatic restructuring of its roster.