Mehmet Okur News

The Portland Trail Blazers signed restricted free agent forward Paul Millsap to an offer sheet Friday.

Okur gets 2-year extension with Jazz Eds: APNewsNow. SALT LAKE CITY The Utah Jazz and center Mehmet Okur have agreed on a two-year contract extension that runs through 2012.

The Los Angeles Lakers hope to build on a solid but uneven Game 1 performance when they resume their Western Conference quarterfinals series against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center tonight.

Now that Carlos Boozer has "opted in," and Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver have declined their "early termination options," it's looking more and more like the Jazz will be over the NBA's salary cap for the 2009-'10 season.

The Jazz now have more than $73 million in payroll for next season committed to 11 players, and they still must add two others.

Drafted in the second round after leaving college early, he steadily developed into an NBA star who's now about to make more money than ever.

All was quiet Thursday on the Paul Millsap front, with Millsap's camp seemingly hunkered down for the long haul and the Jazz banned by NBA rule from discussing their free-agency plans until early next week.

In the wake of last week's trades that sent Richard Jefferson to San Antonio, Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland and Vince Carter to Orlando, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor offered his thoughts on the new NBA landscape.

This is a bad year to be a free agent. Boozer promised he would opt out, but clearly he looked around and realized he couldna t improve on the $12.7 million he is scheduled to earn this year.

Simmons called O'Connor a "class act" for the gesture, adding, "I think it was great that they called and expressed their interest.

Carlos Boozer has reconsidered free agency, or at least put it off a year. Boozer let the Utah Jazz know Tuesday that he will stay with the team for the final year of his contract rather than opting out and becoming a free agent - which he once said he intended to do.

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While his agent continues to negotiate a possible contract extension with the Jazz , and has said his client is "leaning toward opting out" of the final year of his contract with the team if no agreement can be reached by Tuesday, starting center Mehmet Okur recently told media members in his native Turkey that he has no current plans to play ...

The most exciting thing going on these days apart from the just-concluded Confederations Cup is the recent NBA draft and upcoming free-agent signings.

As Tuesday's are-you-with-us-or-not? deadline fast approaches, I find myself wondering whether anyone at all will be around to launch the next Jazz season.

The Utah Jazz selected Virginia Commonwealth guard Eric Maynor in the first round of the NBA draft, getting a backup to starter Deron Williams with the 20th overall pick.

He's the nephew of Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, the cousin of former Jazz/BYU sharpshooter Andy Toolson, and an ex-Utah Valley teammate of Jazz guard Ronnie Price.

Serbiaa s Igor Rakocevic takes a shot at the basket during the match between Serbia and Lebanon at the World Basketball Championships in Sendai, northern Japan, in this Aug.

The Jazz have had the best and the worst of the draft over the past 25 years. Jeremiah... Sloan returns after knee replacement surgery Forty-three years ago, Jerry Sloan was the first player taken in the 1966 NBA Expansion... Hansbrough headlines Monday Draft Workout Tyler Hansbrough was a winner at North Carolina and would love to continue ...

Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said the Jazz 's prospects in the first round were "pretty bleak" after the Lakers closed the regular season with a 125-112 victory over the Jazz at Staples Center.