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NBA
McALLEN -- The Houston Rockets are taking over basketball operations of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in what it says is the first partnership of its kind with an NBA Developmental League team.
The move will give the Rockets control over the players assigned to the D-League team and the final say on staff hirings, coaching decisions and even the schemes used in games. But the Vipers will still be locally owned by a group headed by Alonzo Cantu, and the group will continue to oversee business operations.
The Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder own D-League affiliates and have total control over the teams' basketball and business operations. Other teams operate independently and serve as affiliates for multiple NBA teams, while reserving the right to hire their own staffs and run their own systems.
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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz know at least one player with the option to leave is staying.
Now, for the other two.
Kyle Korver told the Jazz on Monday that he will not opt out of the final year of his contract, taking the guaranteed money over becoming a free agent.
Korver's decision was the first of three that are due before Tuesday's free agency deadline. Center Mehmet Okur and forward Carlos Boozer can also opt out of their remaining season. The Jazz had no updates other than Korver's on the eve of the deadline.
Okur's agent Marc Fleisher said in an e-mail Monday that his client was leaning toward opting out, but had not decided.
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MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Bucks have made qualifying offers to restricted free agent guard Ramon Sessions and forward Ersan Ilyasova, but will not make an offer to forward Charlie Villanueva -- allowing one of their top scorers from last season to become an unrestricted free agent.
Meanwhile, the team also is dealing with a potentially embarrassing YouTube moment from first-round draft pick Brandon Jennings.
Bucks general manager John Hammond said Monday that the team already had sent offers to Sessions and Ilyasova, giving Milwaukee the right to match any contract offers from other teams. But with Tuesday's deadline for teams to make offers to their restricted free agents looming, the team decided not to make an offer to Villanueva.
With a mid-level exception at their disposal, the Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to have interest in signing Villanueva -- and the interest sounds mutual. Perhaps anticipating his free agency, Villanueva posted Sunday that "Cleveland fans are showing me mad love on twitter, appreciate the love."
Hammond said he did not want to elaborate on the reasons behind the free agent decisions.
Jennings' involvement in a profanity-laced and provocative video clip that was posted on the Web site YouTube has caused a stir.
The clip, which showed rapper Joe Budden having a speakerphone conversation with someone identified as Jennings, had been removed as of Monday afternoon.
But according to a partial transcript of the clip posted on sportingnews.com, Jennings said he was confident that Sessions would not return to the team, boasted that he would beat out Luke Ridnour for the Bucks' starting point guard job and made a profane comment about the New York Knicks for not drafting him.
NHL
PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed forward Bill Guerin for one year on Monday.
The 38-year-old forward who helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup this month would have become an unrestricted free agent Wednesday.
A 17-year NHL veteran, Guerin scored seven goals and 15 points in the postseason after being acquired from the Islanders at the trading deadline in March. He has 408 goals and 811 points in 1,185 regular-season games with New Jersey, where he also won a Stanley Cup, Edmonton, Boston, Dallas, St. Louis, San Jose before joining the Islanders and then the Penguins.
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RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Carolina Hurricanes are keeping Jussi Jokinen, agreeing to a two-year deal with one of the stars of their recent playoff run.
The team said Monday that Jokinen's new contract will pay him $1.5 million next season and $1.9 million in 2010-11.
