Elton Brand is officially an unrestricted free agent.

"We're opting out," Brand said. "It definitely doesn't mean I'm leaving the Clippers. We're trying to work it out. My intention is to stay."

According to a report on ESPN.com, Brand, who gave up the $16.4 million on the last year of his contract, hopes to remain with the Clippers.

He joins teammate Corey Maggette, who filed his paperwork earlier in the day, in free agency.

Brand's agent, David Falk, said the forward wants to see the Clippers sign a quality free agent and try to assemble a winning team in Los Angeles.

"It preserves options to make the team better," Falk said. "Clearly, if Elton decided he wanted to simply max out the dollars, he would have stayed in the deal, had a monster year and a lot more teams will have cap room next year."

The Los Angeles Clippers today extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Nick Fazekas and Marcus Williams, announced by Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor.

In accordance with the league?s collective bargaining agreement, in order for a team to retain its right of first refusal with respect to a restricted free agent, the team must tender the player a qualifying offer prior to June 30. A restricted free agent may sign an offer sheet with any team but is subject to a right of first refusal with the team for which the player last played.

In 26 games played for the Clippers and Mavericks last season, Fazekas averaged 4.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 10.3 minutes per game.  Fazekas, the 34th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Mavericks, was originally signed to two consecutive 10-day contracts by Los Angeles beginning on February 27th.  He was signed by the Clippers for the remainder of the season on March 18th.

Williams, a 6?7? forward out of Arizona, averaged 0.9 points in 11 games and played for Los Angeles and San Antonio during the 2007-08 campaign.  Williams was signed by the Clippers for the remainder of the season on March 28th.

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Antawn Jamison to a contract extension.  Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.

The deal is reportedly in the four-year, $50 million range.

?Signing Antawn to a contract extension was a top priority for us this summer,? said Grunfeld. ?He has been a leader for us both on and off the court over the last four seasons, and we?re proud to reward his efforts by bringing him back.?

Jamison led the Wizards in scoring (21.4 ppg) and rebounding (a career-high 10.2 rpg) last season to earn his second career All-Star appearance.  He was one of only five players in the NBA to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and posted a career-high 44 double-doubles.

Gilbert Arenas still claims that he wants to remain with the Wizards and the team could offer him a six-year deal worth $100 million in the near future, according to The Washington Post.

However, there are also reports that Ernie Grunfeld could meet Gilbert's original demand of a maximum-level contract. Such a deal would be worth $124 million over six years.

If the Wizards want to get the deal done Tuesday - even though nothing would become official until July  9 - they'll have to work quickly as Arenas is leaving for China around 9 a.m.

Pat Riley is looking for cheap options at point guard this summer, according to The Miami Herald.

He is interested in Kyle Lowry, which would require a trade with Memphis.

In terms of free agents the Heat will be able to look at Chris Duhon, Carlos Arroyo, Keyon Dooling, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Jannero Pargo and Anthony Carter.

Miami also has a nice rookie option out of Kansas.

"I can't wait to see what Mario Chalmers can do," Riley said. But "I'm not expecting miracles from a young kid."

The Lakers are looking to keep both Sasha Vujacic and Ronny Turiaf in town, according to The Los Angeles Times.

They don't have the cap space to sign any big-name players, but the Lakers still want to retain both Vujacic and Turiaf. They are both restricted free agents, meaning L.A. can match any offer sheet they sign with another team.

"A lot of it's going to depend on the progress we make with Sasha and Ronny," Kupchak said of what other moves they might make. "I think we feel if we can bring those two players back, and we get Trevor [Ariza] and Andrew [Bynum] back, we'd be happy going into training camp with that group. If we run into a roadblock . . . then we'll have to look in other directions."

The Suns are reportedly looking to add a point guard to help ease the burden on Steve Nash, according to The Arizona Republic.

"One thing we'd like to do with Steve is not just cut down on his minutes but maybe cut down on his games, too," Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said. "He's played about 80 games almost every year. I'd like to see that go to 70. I think it'd help Steve to get a night off occasionally."

Phoenix could target Tyronn Lue, who considered signing with the Suns before agreeing to terms with the Mavericks this past season.

Anthony Johnson and Chris Duhon also appear to be options.

The Sixers are still hoping to lure Elton Brand away from the Clippers once free agency officially begins in the early morning hours on Tuesday, according to The Philadelphia Daily News.

"I'm getting older - I don't know about 12:01 in the morning," Sixers President/General Manager Eddie Stefanski said.

Stefanski is waiting to see whether or not Brand exercises his $16.44 million option with the Clippers. Josh Smith and Andris Biedrins, also restricted free agents, would fit the Sixers needs, as well.

Antawn Jamison and the Washington Wizards are nearing a four-year deal worth $50 million, according to a report by ESPN's Marc Stein.

Sources told ESPN.com on Monday that the Wizards and Jamison would soon finalize terms mere hours before Jamison was to become an unrestricted free agent.

Free agency begins in the NBA on 12:01 AM Tuesday, and Jamison was expected to receive interest from a number of teams.

"This organization has believed in me from Day 1. ... I definitely know they want me to stay and I want to stay," Jamison told ESPN.com in December.

Tyson Chandler has been named an alternate for Team USA, according to a report by ESPN's Chris Sheridan.

Two sources told ESPN.com that Chandler has been invited to attend training camp with Team USA in Las Vegas beginning July 21, then to travel with the team to Macao and Shanghai for exhibition games.

USA Basketball is awaiting a response from Chandler, who was passed over in favor of Tayshaun Prince nearly two weeks ago.

The other five alternates will be Shawn Marion, Kevin Durant, Chauncey Billups, Joe Johnson and Mike Miller.