Mailman Demands To Be Traded

The Mailman wishes to deliver elsewhere when the NBA lockout is over.

Karl Malone, one of the finest power forwards in NBA history, said on his radio show Wednesday that he no longer wants to play for the Utah Jazz.

"I am tired of the posturing and jabbering back and forth, and I will go out on a limb and say, when the lockout is over with, I will make a demand to be traded," Malone said. "I will say it right now, I have played my last game in Salt Lake City, and it's time for Karl to move on."

With extra time on his hands, Malone is in his third week as an afternoon talk-show host two hours a day Mondays through Fridays for radio station KXTA in Los Angeles.

"There have been things done and said in Utah, and I don't really think I can play there anymore," he said on the air. "I'm almost sure I can't play there anymore."

"I would rather go somewhere else, and there's not a lot of places I can go to. I would love to have an opportunity to play with the (Los Angeles) Lakers, either when this lockout is over with or when I become a free agent."

Malone, 35, has played with the Jazz for 13 years. An 11-time All-Star, Malone led Utah to the NBA Finals each of the last two seasons and has one year remaining on his contract with the Jazz.

Jazz spokesman Mark Kelly said he couldn't comment on Malone's remarks because of the gag order that prohibits comment by team officials on player matters.

Malone placed much of the blame for his feelings on the media in Utah, saying he would never do another interview for reporters from Salt Lake City.

Malone is doing his show this week from a radio station in Arkansas, where he is on a hunting trip.

Malone averaged 27.0 points and 10.3 rebounds in 81 regular-season games last year. In 1,061 career games, he is averaging 26.2 points and 10.7 rebounds.

Malone's radio show had been arried on KALL-AM in Salt Lake City since the day after its inception, but that stopped Wednesday.

Station manager Lee Douglas said Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, asked that the station pay for the show, and "we had not budgeted for it."

When he started the show, Malone said one of the conditions was that it be carried in Utah.

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