Utah Jazz: Harpring to sit out camp, may later return

Matt Harpring might play for the Utah Jazz during the 2009-10 season after all.

Then again, the 11-year NBA veteran with various ankle and knee woes might retire.

It's also possible the physical player might do something in between those two scenarios after trying to rest, recuperate and rehab his ailing and banged-up 33-year-old body back into playing shape.

That all, however, still remains unknown.

What is certain, the organization announced Wednesday, is that the Jazz and Harpring have decided to wait another six weeks before revisiting the topic. Until then, Harpring will remain on the Jazz roster but will miss the team's training camp, the entire preseason and at least part of the regular season while waiting to see what happens to him health-wise.

For now, Harpring is considered by the team's medical staff to be physically unable to participate, according to Jazz spokesperson Jonathan Rinehart.

The small forward, who was hampered all last season by his surgically repaired right ankle, will remain at his offseason home in Atlanta until being re-evaluated in early November. Harpring would miss at least four regular-season games if he were cleared to play at the end of this six-week timetable.

Harpring, who said this summer that he'd still "love to play" if medically possible, couldn't be reached on Wednesday. His Atlanta-based agent, Richard Howell, declined to discuss the subject during a brief phone conversation. Likewise, Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor, who is attending a senior management retreat in Park City this week, was unavailable for an immediate response as to what other plans for Harpring were discussed when the player recently met with Utah's front-office personnel.

The Jazz find themselves in a tough situation with Harpring, whose gritty play and veteran presence make him a favorite of the coaching staff. Because of complicated Collective Bargaining Agreement rules, Harpring's $6.5 million salary would still count against the Jazz for luxury-tax purposes even if he were to retire for medical purposes. That's even the case if Harpring were — in an unlikely scenario — to decide to walk away from the money owed to him for the final year of his Jazz contract.