Arroyo, Lopez on injured list

Not even those pesky politicians, it seems, were as busy Monday as the Jazz.

Utah made several roster-related decisions on an eventful afternoon, electing in the end to waive, well, no one.

Instead of trimming from a list of 14 still left, the Jazz put their top two point guards, Carlos Arroyo and Raul Lopez, on the injured list.

Both Arroyo, who has a sprained left ankle, and Lopez, who may undergo arthroscopic surgery on his twice surgically rebuilt right knee, must sit out at least five games.

Joining them on the injured list is 7-foot-3 center Aleksandar Radojevic, whom the Jazz want to keep around — at the very least — for practice purposes.

That means Utah has just 11 spots filled on its 12-man active roster, including 10 players with fully guaranteed contracts and another position belonging to No. 3 point Keith McLeod, who has one-third of his one-year, $750,000 pact guaranteed.

The 12th roster spot is being reserved for a last-minute point guard pickup, presumably former Jazz backup point Howard Eisley, who agreed to a $10 million-plus contract buyout with Phoenix last Friday.

"The year before (last) he started (76) games for the Knicks, and averaged (about) nine points a game," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president for basketball operations. "So that's somebody that obviously" is possible.

Make that probable.

The Suns did not actually put Eisley on waivers until Monday morning, and by NBA rule teams have 48 hours to claim him. No one will because of his decidedly pricey contract, so Eisley will become a free agent — able to sign with the team of his choosing — on Wednesday.

Unless things go quite off script, that team will be the Jazz, for whom Eisley played five seasons from 1995 through 2000.

Another club conceivably could make a more-enticing offer than the one-year, $1.1 million veteran's-minimum deal Utah likely will extend, but none has a point need quite as pressing as the Jazz's.

"We offer an opportunity, maybe, that's a little bit unique in the fact that somebody can come in and play — or at least play for a while," said O'Connor, who was not planning on being without both of the Jazz's top two points until Arroyo sprained his ankle last Thursday.