After 18 seasons in Utah, Karl Malone is taking his NBA championship aspirations to the Los Angeles Lakers.

It may not be the most graceful of exits, like the one retiring 19-year Jazz veteran John Stockton made last month: At a nearly full Delta Center, about 18,000 fans, NBA commissioner David Stern, several franchise officials and a few local politicians all paid the longtime point guard an emotional goodbye.

Malone's departure from Salt Lake, rather, is tinted with an element of awkwardness: He is not retiring but instead is leaving as a free agent for another team.

How does Malone make things right with his employer for nearly two decades? How does he make things right with the fans who followed him so long?

Both are questions that have been weighing on The Mailman's mind.

Malone resolved the issue with his old boss Thursday, when in a 20-minute telephone conversation with Jazz owner Larry H. Miller he not only delivered the news of his decision to orally commit to the Lakers but also cleared the air of whatever negativity may have been clouding their long-standing relationship.