The agent for Ronnie Brewer said Friday that he and Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor had agreed that they would not be able to come to agreement on a contract extension for Brewer ahead of the Monday deadline to do so.
"Kevin and I have talked several times," agent Henry Thomas said. "I don't really think there's anything that's going to get done and we agreed on that this morning. . . .It was something we decided we wanted to see what the market would speak to next summer."
Brewer would become a restricted free agent at season's end, assuming the Jazz tender him a qualifying offer of $3.8 million. Brewer is the lone member of the Jazz's young core of players including Deron Williams, Paul Millsap and C.J. Miles not signed long term.
The Jazz have been forced to match offer sheets in recent summers to keep both Miles and Millsap and might have to do the same with Brewer, who is entering his third season as a starter and was the No. 14 pick in the 2006 draft.
"There's no guarantee what the market will say," Thomas said. "Certainly, there are risks with not accepting an extension contract offer. Obviously, the risk on the team's side is what the market will say is more than what they were willing to pay the player."
During their talks, Thomas said O'Connor "made it crystal clear they want Ronnie to be part of the future" and that failing to come to agreement on an extension shouldn't indicate otherwise. "We made clear Ronnie understands that," Thomas said.
Thomas said he didn't see a last-minute change as happened earlier this week when Rajon Rondo's agent said he would not be able to come to agreement on an extension with the Celtics before the team restarted talks.
Only four players from the 2006 draft class have agreed to extensions so far: Toronto's Andrea Bargnani, Portland's Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and Oklahoma City's Thabo Sefolosha.
"I think that he'll have a great year and continue to improve the way he has up to this point," Thomas said. "Knock on wood that he doesn't get injured, but I think he'll be in that free agent group that'll be attractive to teams."
The Jazz on Friday also exercised a $1.3 million option on Kosta Koufos for the 2010-11 season. Koufos, their 2008 first-round draft pick out of Ohio State, played in 48 games as a rookie last season.
