5:15pm: Utah has a deal in the works with Millsap, according to Stein, while Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune also hears that Millsap will be joining the Jazz (Twitter links).
5:02pm: The Jazz are eyeing Elijah Millsap for a callup from the NBA D-League, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). Millsap currently plays for the Bakersfield Jam, the Suns’ D-league affiliate. Utah would likely ink Millsap to a 10-day contract, which cannot occur until Monday, the first day that the league allows such arrangements, though that is just my speculation. This move would be in response to Patrick Christopher suffering a dislocated right kneecap Friday night. It isn’t yet known how long Christopher will be out, and he will have an MRI once the swelling goes down. Alec Burks is also lost for the season, making the Jazz thin in their backcourt.
Utah currently has the league-maximum 15 players on its roster, with 12 of those deals being fully guaranteed, so a corresponding roster move would need to be made in order for the team to ink Millsap. It is unclear whom the Jazz would release to clear space for the 6’6″, 27-year-old guard out of UAB. Potential candidates include Christopher, or Joe Ingles, since the deals for both players are non-guaranteed. Toure’ Murry has a partially guaranteed deal, but with the Jazz hurting for bodies in the backcourt, it would be surprising to see him waived.
Millsap, the younger brother of Atlanta’s Paul Millsap, has yet to appear in a regular season NBA game since going undrafted in 2010, but he did see action for the Bucks during the preseason this past fall. He spoke with Zach Links of Hoops Rumors shortly before he went to camp with Milwaukee. In 19 games this season for Bakersfield, the younger Millsap is averaging 20.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 5.2 assists. His slash line is .442/.339/.763.