Arroyo trade rumors renewed

After Jazz coach Jerry Sloan did not play deposed starting point guard Carlos Arroyo for a fourth straight game, sitting him out of Monday night's road win over the Los Angeles Lakers, the seemingly inevitable trade talk took a national turn.

ESPN's Chad Ford, writing Tuesday on ESPNInsider.com, suggested an Arroyo deal could soon be in the works.

"According to several league executives who have inquired about his availability, Arroyo is definitely on the trading block," Ford wrote on the paid subscription-required Web site. "The fallout between Arroyo and (Sloan) has disintegrated to the point Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor feels like he has to make a move."

O'Connor, however, took issue with that suggestion after being informed of it late Tuesday afternoon.

"Do I feel like we have to make a move?" he said. "No.

Absolutely not."

O'Connor, the Jazz's senior vice president for basketball operations, said recently he has not engaged in any "substantive" trade talk regarding Arroyo.

But he does not deny discussing Arroyo and other Jazz players with various teams around the league, and Tuesday he again did not rule out the possibility of the 14-26 team making some sort of trade before the NBA's Feb. 24 deadline.

Whether Arroyo is part of any such deal, however, remains to be seen.

The Jazz's starting point guard in each game he played last season and again when he returned from an ankle sprain early this season, Arroyo has slipped to fourth in the pecking order — behind starter Keith McLeod, backup Raul Lopez and combo/No. 3 Howard Eisley — since engaging in a brief sideline exchange with Sloan during a game last month.

The two later made amends publicly.

In the Jazz's last five games, however, Arroyo has played a total of two minutes.

Several times in the past few weeks, Arroyo has publicly expressed his unhappiness over not playing more and not starting. That probably won him no favor with Sloan, who countered by questioning Arroyo's record of attendance at non-mandatory practices and medical-treatment sessions.

"The team seems to play with more energy when McLeod is in the game," Ford wrote. "Combine that with what Sloan believes is Arroyo's questionable work ethic and attitudes since his return, and it looks like the two are heading for divorce court."