Utah Jazz trade Eric Maynor and Matt Harpring

MIAMI — The Utah Jazz on Tuesday traded rookie point guard Eric Maynor and veteran forward Matt Harpring's expiring contract to Oklahoma City for the rights to a forward from Germany who has never played in the NBA.

The cost-cutting trade will save more than $10 million for the Jazz, who are well in excess of the NBA's team payroll salary cap and luxury-tax threshold.

"It's good for Oklahoma City, because they get a good young player (in Maynor)," Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor said today. "And it's good for us, because it allows us to address our financial situation.

"Basically the reason we did that was to relieve ourselves of some luxury-tax responsibilities ... and to do that we had to give up an asset," he added. "It was a difficult decision. We're disappointed that we had to do that, but in these economic times we saved a great deal of money and we're able to be aggressive, still, going forward."

The trade — essentially a salary dump of Harpring's burdensome contract, at the cost of 22-year-old Maynor — reduces Utah's roster count from 14 to 12.

But the Jazz do plan to get back to the league-required minimum of 13 by adding another point guard in the near future.

They have two weeks to do so.

Point guards currently available in the open market who could supplement Price on the Jazz bench include former Jazz guard Keith McLeod, who is averaging 19.9 points and 6.1 assists per game for Dallas' NBA Development League affiliate in Albuquerque; just-waived Wilks, a 30-year-old veteran who has played for 10 NBA teams; last season's backup, Brevin Knight, who currently is working Charlotte Bobcats games as a radio analyst; and ex-Jazz point Jacque Vaughn, who last played 30 games for San Antonio last season.

The Jazz, meanwhile, still have a another reserve point on the roster in combo guard Ronnie Price — though the Utah Valley product is just recently back from a toe foot injury that cost him 15 straight games.

Maynor had been backing up starter Deron Williams, but with the Team USA Olympic guard averaging 38.5 minutes per game O'Connor didn't seem to have any great concerns about the club's situation at the point.

"The fact is we've got Deron," the Jazz GM said in a telephone interview.

The Jazz have no plans whatsoever to sign the forward whose rights they acquired — Peter Fehse, a 6-foot-11 big who plays in his native Germany for Mitteldeutscher BC Weissenfels.