Malone to retire in Utah as NBA's No. 2 all-time scorer

SALT LAKE CITY -- There will be no NBA career scoring record for Karl Malone. No championship ring, either.

The Mailman is retiring, having come up short in his quest for both during his 19-year career.

The 41-year-old Malone will announce his retirement Sunday, the Jazz said Friday, deciding against making one more run at an NBA title. He will hold a news conference Sunday at the Delta Center -- the arena where his 1997 and 1999 league MVPs are celebrated with signs below the upper deck.

Soon, a giant No. 32 Malone jersey will hang above the court.

"Even though he never won a championship, he had an outstanding career," said Jerry Sloan, Malone's coach for 15 seasons in Utah. "He played a lot of times when he shouldn't have. He did whatever he could to try to win, and I think that kind of thing is overlooked a lot these days in the game of basketball."

Malone's agent, Dwight Manley, said Malone was "very serious" about returning to action with the San Antonio Spurs before he decided to retire.

Karl Malone missed 39 games last season due to injury. (Getty Images)

"I can tell you he's given a tremendous amount of thought to this decision, but the specific details are best left to him to make on Sunday," Manley said.

Jazz owner Larry Miller said he spoke to Malone on Thursday night and left it up to Malone on when he wanted to hold his retirement news conference. Miller said he promised Malone not to get into details about his 18 years with the Jazz until Sunday, when the emotional owner will help Malone say goodbye in the city where he started his NBA career in 1985.

And now that his playing career will officially be over, Miller said the next step is to retire Malone's number.

"The earliest it will be is the beginning of the next season," Miller said. "We'll let him choose the timing."

Malone has scored 36,928 points, just 1,459 behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record.

Malone spent all but one of his 19 seasons with the Jazz, signing with the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent before last season. He made the move so he could make one more run at the ring that eluded him in trips to the NBA Finals in 1997 and '98.

Malone made it to the finals again with the Lakers, but came up empty. Detroit beat Los Angeles in five games.