NBA Commissioner David Stern released the following statement today:

"Over the past six weeks the NBA has attempted to broker an agreement between the Trail Blazers and the owners of the Rose Garden to sell the team and the arena to one of several prospective purchasers that we had identified. Unfortunately, the arena owners have not offered any constructive response to these efforts and recently advised us that they are satisfied with the status quo. Accordingly, we have advised both parties that we have withdrawn from the process."

It appears that Blazers center Joel Przybilla may not be a lock to return to Portland next season after all.

Reports out of the Oregon Live state that Przybilla has said his future with the team might be in jeopardy because of the way some teammates have given up on the season.

Przybilla has spent much of the season saying his top priority is to re-sign with Portland after the season, but after a dismal second half, which has included 22 losses in 25 games, the 7-foot-1 center says he will look elsewhere this summer unless changes are made.

"When the season is over, it's going to be a big decision for me, and a lot is going to be determined by what team they bring back," Przybilla said. "Because I'm telling you, this is tough, it's real tough."

"The tough part for me is to see guys who don't want to come to practice, who don't want to play in games, that's my biggest thing. Personally, I have no problem playing because I want to play, no matter what. But to see other guys -- I don't know if it's giving up or what -- but we have to finish the season strong. It's our job, we have to be professional, and I don't know if everyone is doing that."

As expected, the Trail Blazers on Monday assigned second-year center Ha Seung Jin to the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBA Developmental League. He is expected to join the Flyers on Wednesday.

Ha has appeared in 24 games for the Blazers this season, starting four, and is averaging 1.6 points and 2.0 rebounds.

Of the N.B.A.'s 30 teams, 19 have sent at least one player to the D-League, for a total of 29 players, including 5 first-round draft picks: Martell Webster, Boston's Gerald Green, Denver's Julius Hodge, Washington's Andray Blatche and Dallas's Pavel Podkolzin. Fifteen D-League players have been called up to the N.B.A. this season.

"I would not hesitate to send people again," Portland General Manager John Nash said. "The competition isn't as good as summer league in Vegas because in Vegas you have N.B.A. players. But this is the next best thing.

"Martell played effectively there. I just didn't want him to languish here on the bench. I wanted him to get a taste not just of the competition, but get a perspective. I think you can be a little surreal in your approach coming from high school to the N.B.A."

Next season, when the N.B.A.'s age requirement increases to 19, the D-League plans to lower its limit to 18 so players wishing to bypass college will have an alternative.

Players who can qualify academically will probably opt for a college program that offers more exposure.

"For business reasons, it would be good for us if everyone who didn't come to the N.B.A. went to college," N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern said. "If I had my druthers, this league would be for N.B.A. players who just needed a little more time."

Darius Miles is set to miss at least one game after the death of his maternal grandfather, Oregon Live is reporting.

Blazers coach Nate McMillan said the action, which the team termed as Miles being "excused," is not related to Miles' being benched for the Blazers' game at Phoenix on Thursday. Miles missed Thursday's morning shootaround -- saying he fell asleep in his hotel room -- and McMillan did not play him as punishment.

According to San Antonio Express-News columnist Mike Monroe, former Portland champion Clyde Drexler has no interest in losing any of his money on his former team.

"Are you kidding?" Drexler said. "If they're losing the kind of money Paul Allen says they're losing, I'm not putting my money into them."

The kind of money Allen says the Blazers are losing? About $100 million over the next three seasons.

Drexler explained he was contacted by a potential buyer who wanted him, Terry Porter and Detlef Schrempf, ex-Blazers all, to be the "faces" of a new regime. He said he would love to be involved but not as an investor. General manager or director of basketball operations has more appeal.

Sebastian Telfair smiled when he was asked about coming home and playing for the Nets, if and when they move to Brooklyn.

"I think about it," the Coney Island kid said. "I'm from Brooklyn. If I got the opportunity and it happened like that I'd be happy to play in Brooklyn."

According to Oregon Live, NBA Commissioner David Stern is trying to broker a deal between the Portland Trail Blazers and the owners of the Rose Garden to bring the two back under common ownership.

Stern declined to specify what ideas he presented to the team and to the arena's owners, and added that the two "are not on the same page yet." But he said he expects to know in about two weeks whether the team, owned by billionaire Paul Allen, and the arena, owned by a group of lenders, are willing to pursue the path he outlined for them.

"We're trying to see whether there's a way to put the two enterprises together so that we could look and see whether that combined entity is a viable enterprise," he said.

According to The News Tribune, Detlef Schrempf said he was contacted to determine if he would be interested in becoming an investor in a group that would purchase the Portland Trail Blazers from Paul Allen.

Schrempf said the group is in the preliminary stages and is attempting to see if it can get together enough investors to make a bid for the team, which Allen said will lose $100 million over the next three seasons because of its lease.

Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen said Friday he has invested more in an NBA team than any other owner, but the Blazers still need a public partnership to survive financially.

In a posting on the team's Web site, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corp. said, "Portland has enjoyed the benefits of the Trail Blazers through what is probably the most favorable franchise relationship with a city that has ever existed in the NBA."

But Allen repeated what he has said through spokesmen: "Unfortunately the economic model for that type of deal is broken, and now everyone needs to pitch in and try and fix it. If that effort fails, the team is in jeopardy, as we have invested too much to this point to continue."