The Jazz will wait until Monday's deadline to announce a decision, but appear inclined to exercise their option to bring back Fesenko, who has appeared in only 30 games for a total of 226 minutes during his first two seasons in Utah.

After acquiring Fesenko in a swap of second-round picks in the 2007 draft, the Jazz have invested more than $2 million in his development, between the $500,000 buyout paid to his Ukrainian club team and the $750,000 and $810,000 he has made in salary.

Should they bring back Fesenko, the Jazz would be ineligible to send him to the NBA Development League as a third-year player, underscoring the importance of finding a role for him next season.

The Jazz could face the prospect of watching Fesenko blossom with another team should they not exercise the option. Fesenko's former agent (and Facebook friend), Jason Levien, is the Kings' assistant general manager and is believed to have interest.

Fesenko showed flashes of potential with a 12-point, 11-rebound effort in the Jazz's Dec. 27 loss to Houston and worked during the season to drop his weight below 300 pounds and his body fat below 10 percent.

Yet he couldn't have left for the summer on a worse note, with Fesenko having to answer to O'Connor and Sloan during his exit interview about Facebook posts concerning everything from a trip to IHOP for pancakes to being happy to be in Los Angeles for the playoffs.

One issue should the Jazz bring back Fesenko could be his summer-league participation. Fesenko had hoped to skip summer league to play for the Ukrainian national team, but might have to reconsider those plans.

Even if the Jazz exercise their option, Fesenko could be a subject of trade talk this summer and would carry an expiring contract into the season.

Fesenko averaged 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 21 games last season. He also is now represented by Dan Fegan, a notoriously hardball agent, who took over some of Levien's former clients this summer.

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Briefly

Andrei Kirilenko will join a group of Jazz players headed to the Peak Performance Project in Santa Barbara, Calif., next week to train. It will be Kirilenko's first trip to P3, with the center's director, Marcus Elliott, calling Kirilenko's participation a "big win" in an e-mail . . . .The Jazz will hold their first day of draft workouts Monday and could have prospects in as many as five days next week. O'Connor said of the late start to workouts, "I think we've gone back a little bit to what we've done before," but did not consider it a product of the economy. The Jazz have attended group workouts hosted by Golden State, Minnesota and New Jersey while O'Connor traveled to Treviso, Italy, to watch European prospects last weekend. . . . .Neither of the Jazz's 2008 second-round draft picks, Croatian center Ante Tomic or Serbian forward Tadija Dragicevic, will be coming to the Jazz this season. Tomic reportedly will sign with Euroleague power Maccabi Tel Aviv in what could be the next step before making the jump to the NBA. Alt Heads:

Jazz face decision on Fesenko