Jazz pick up D-Will's option

Deciding to pick up the third-year, 2007-08 season option on the rookie contract of starting point guard Deron Williams was the easy part.

"That's a no-brainer," Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor said.

The rest of Monday's busy business dealings, however, were a bit more difficult. Among the decisions made:

• The Jazz also declined to exercise their fourth-year, '07-08 option on ex-BYU big man Rafael Araujo's rookie contract;

• Prior to practice Monday morning, they waived undrafted big man Hiram Fuller, trimming their roster to the NBA-mandated maximum of 15 before Monday afternoon's deadline for doing so;

• And franchise officials deferred naming a winner in the battle between Dee Brown and Brian Chase for the club's No. 3 point guard position.

Williams' scale contract calls for the All-Rookie team selection to make $4,010,640 in 2007-08, and ensures that no other team can attempt to sign him in the open market before at least the summer of '08.

The Jazz also hold a fourth-year, 2008-09 season option on Williams' contract that is worth $5,069,448.

If the No. 3 overall selection in the 2005 NBA Draft continues to perform as expected, however, they could wind up facing the prospect of negotiating a multi-year rookie-contract extension a la Andrei Kirilenko that potentially would be worth upwards of $80 million.

Araujo, meanwhile, would have been guaranteed $3,046,694 in '07-08 had his option been picked up.

Instead, he'll become an unrestricted free agent next offseason — though the Jazz retain the right to re-sign him without his earnings counting against their team payroll salary cap.

That decision means the Jazz are gambling that if they like what they see in Araujo, who was acquired in a summer trade for fellow 2004 first-round draft pick Kris Humphries, they can re-sign the rugged center at a reduced price.

It also serves as motivation to prove his worth for Araujo, widely regarded as a disappointment in Toronto after the Raptors selected him No. 8 overall.

O'Connor did not return telephone calls seeking comment on the Araujo matter.

Earlier in the day, however, he did discuss the roster-related moves.