On the same day Jazz owner Larry H. Miller delivered stinging salvos in an escalating word war with franchise icon Karl Malone, Malone's chief negotiator attempted to diffuse the nasty squabble.
     
"I don't think there's any irreconcilable issues here," agent Dwight Manley said, adding the quarrel "could be cleared up with a simple phone call or face-to-face meeting."
     
Miller, speaking earlier Monday, didn't sound so certain.
     
Dubbing the affair "a feud with the star and himself," the longtime Jazz owner deemed a recent Malone rant the latest installment in a series of many delivered throughout the Mailman's 17-season NBA career in Utah.
   
"Karl seems to have a need to have something to take issue with every year," Miller said. "But you know that. . . . Let's just say he who laughs last, laughs loudest.