The Jazz have not landed top-target Elton Brand as they had hoped, but they were able to get Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Corey Maggette to sign on the proper line.
Maggette has agreed to accept a six-year offer sheet from Utah that reportedly is worth $45 million and apparently is front-loaded with perhaps more than $14 million payable right away, conceivably making it much tough for the Clippers to match the offer.
Because Maggette is a restricted free agent, though, the Clippers are allowed up to 15 days to decide whether or not they really want to keep the 23-year-old from Duke for themselves.
"We'll see in 15 days," said Jazz senior vice president of basketball operations Kevin O'Connor, who seemed hopeful and even confident that the 6-foot-6 Maggette might wind up in Utah.
"We think we've got somebody that wants to work," O'Connor added. "We outlined for him what we expected . . . and he thrived on that. He really liked the idea (and) wanted to be here."
Not so with Brand, despite the Jazz's persistent efforts.
"I think we gave it our best shot with him," O'Connor said.
Whether or not Maggette ever actually arrives is strictly up to the Clippers at this point — although the Jazz may have done their best to persuade them not to match.
O'Connor would not disclose financial terms of the offer sheet, but it is believed Maggette's deal — and that of Brand, who instead signed an offer sheet from the Miami Heat — may be structured in such a manner that Clippers would have to spend a boatload of money up front in order to keep their coveted players.
"What we tried to do is put (in) an offer and skew it enough so it's difficult for another team possibly to match," O'Connor said. "But that's their prerogative."
If Maggette's deal really is valued at $45 million, it could include a combination of signing bonus ($11.25 million) and an early payment on part of his first-year, $4.5 million base salary (up to 70 percent, or about $3.15 million).
That $14 million-plus could all be paid as soon as Oct. 1.
Maggette's hit on Utah's team-payroll salary cap under that $45 million scenario would be $6.375 million, leaving the Jazz with more than $14 million that they can either spend on salary for next season or defer as room under the cap until next offseason.
Brand's offer sheet from the Heat is similarly front-loaded, though the overall value of the contract is much higher, reportedly in the range of $84.2 million over six years, with around $25 million up front.
Miami's bid seems aided by at least three factors.
One is that the Heat found an extra $4.1 million in cap space when someone in the office of guard Anthony Carter's agent inadvertently failed to exercise Carter's contract option for next season. Another is that the cap for next season was set Tuesday at $43.8 million, which gives the Heat more room beneath the cap in which to lure Brand. Then there is the fact Utah has a state income tax, and Florida does not — an astronomical difference on a salary so high.
Otherwise, Utah might have had a better shot at the much-sought Brand.
"With the salary going up, it obviously affected us, giving us a little bit more room under the cap," O'Connor said. "But it also helped other teams that were not quite there, and that kind of put them over the hump on some players."
Similarly aided by extra cap space is Washington, which has now has more room with which to lure Golden State guard Gilbert Arenas, and Golden State, which also has more to spend on its own guy. The Jazz had been talking extensively with Arenas, but now it seems he will decide between going to the Wizards or staying with the Warriors.
Denver, meanwhile, has signed former University of Utah star Andre Miller to a six-year offer as well.
If the Nuggets also front-loaded Miller's contract, that would mean notoriously frugal Clippers owner Donald Sterling would have to shell out more than $50 million on the same day.
The Clippers are not expected to match on Miller, who evidently spurned a similar offer from Utah. But they will have to decide on Brand and Maggette.
The Jazz are hedging that if the Clippers do match on Brand, they will not on Maggette — or that they may not match on either one, even though they vowed they will.
"We'll have to wait and see," O'Connor said.
The Jazz will do so anxiously, because in addition to the shooting guard spot they also still need help at both point guard and power forward.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Wednesday that Utah is one of four teams "in the hunt" for Lakers power forward Robert Horry, but there is no reason to believe that is indeed the case.
The Jazz are, however, continuing their search for free-agent help.
"This just started it," O'Connor said Wednesday. "We're still going to be involved in a lot of things. Obviously, some of the headliners have dropped out. But . . . we're evaluating. We're still actively involved.
"The saga will go on," the Jazz exec added. "It's not over today."
E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com