Tim Buckley of the Desert News gives us the Jazz rebuttal to comments made by agent Dwight Manley. Manley, who is the agent for Utah forward Karl Malone and free agents Donyell Marshall and Bryon Russell, blasted the Jazz for their handling of Russell and Marshall?s free agent negotiations.

"Dwight has his own opinion," said Kevin O'Connor, the Jazz's vice-president of basketball operations. "Whatever opinion he has is his own. "If he had something to say to me," O'Connor added, "he should have called me himself."

With their backs against the luxury tax limit, the Jazz informed Manley that Russell would not be offered a contract this summer. It also appears that the Jazz recently refused a sign and trade offer for Russell. Multiple sources said Saturday that the Jazz turned down an offer from Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards to swap veteran swingman Hubert Davis guard Tyronn Lue for Russell.

If the Jazz want to remain under the tax limit, they would probably not be able to offer a deal to Marshall and accept more salary in a sign and trade for Russell. Meanwhile, the Sacramento Kings have emerged as a suitor for Marshall. A Sacramento Kings front-office official would neither confirm nor deny his team's interest in Marshall on Saturday, but their president, Geoff Petrie, suggested that inquiring about another team?s free agent is not unusual.  

"Standard operating procedure is to at least call people and see what they are doing," and it's safe to assume Sacramento did just that with several of the league's top free agents, Petrie told the Sacramento Bee. "But a lot of guys," said Petrie, who was speaking generally and did not identify Manley by name, "run around after you talk to them and use that to try to get what they want from other teams."