Jazz awaiting Spurs decision on Brown

Utah Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations said Monday evening he has not heard yet if the San Antonio Spurs will match his offer sheet for restricted free-agent guard Devin Brown.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had told the San Antonio Express-News on Friday that he planned to discuss the matter with general manager R.C. Buford over the weekend and have a decision by Monday morning, but a public announcement was not made Monday.

O'Connor said he doubted the Spurs would do anything prior to the deadline — seven days from when they received a copy of the signed offer sheet — because another team might offer a trade over the next few days that would mean the Spurs would want to hold onto Brown. Or a Spurs player could sustain an injury.

Utah's two-year offer is apparently for $2.5 million this season, a bit more next season, with the second year at the option of the team.

O'Connor said he's not sure exactly when San Antonio received a copy of the offer sheet but guessed it was last Friday morning, meaning the Spurs have until this Friday morning to match it. Official NBA transactions list the date as Friday.

If there are no trades or injuries to complicate things, it seems unlikely San Antonio would be able to keep Brown as it has recently signed guards Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley and already has a 13-man roster, the NBA minimum. Also, the Spurs would likely go over the salary cap threshold, so matching on Brown might cost them nearly double the contract in luxury tax, according to the Express-News.

Brown, 26, was born in Ogden but has lived most of his life in San Antonio. He played 67 regular-season games for San Antonio last season, missing the last 15 with a herniated disk, He played limited minutes during the Spurs championship playoff run due to the back injury.