Utah Jazz: Kirilenko returns to form

Kirilenko will turn 29 when the NBA trade deadline passes on Feb. 18.

With a salary of $16,442,000 this season and $17,813,000 next season, he's virtually untradeable this season. His expiring contract, though, could be enticing to some team when next season's deadline for dealing rolls around.

Whatever happens then, Kirilenko says he's started to prioritize his wish list for the summer of 2011.

And No. 1 on it is not, as some suspect, catching the first flight back to Moscow.

"Getting back to Europe is definitely my last choice," he said after a shooting session with Hornacek prior to practice Friday. "Because the level of the basketball is really different than here, and you want to play at the best level as possible as long as you can."

And he definitely wants to continue playing beyond age 30, which seemingly leaves either joining another NBA team or staying in Utah.

Either way, he knows it will have to be at a considerably reduced price.

Some teams are bound to show interest in a cheaper Kirilenko, including perhaps New Jersey.

The Nets' new owner will soon officially be Mikhail Prokhorov, the richest man in Russia and longtime financial backer of Kirilenko's former Russian League club, CSKA Moscow.

"It's tough to say," Kirilenko said of potential Prokhorov pursuit. "I'm pretty sure if I was a Russian owner I would be interested to get a Russian player."

And Kirilenko happens to be the only one currently in the NBA.

"It's really up to him," Kirilenko said. "But priority is Utah Jazz."

That's right: For all the rough days he's had here, for all the heartache, for all the difficulty he's had living up to his contract and fully satisfying Sloan, and for as hard as it may be for some cynics to buy, Kirilenko insists his first preference would be to stay.

"Of course we're thinking about our future," Kirilenko said. "After talking a lot, we think Utah is the best choice for us, because our kids are growing up here, going to school, we've settled everything, we know what to expect.

"But it's so far away," he added, "and it's really early to say."

e-mail: tbuckey@desnews.com