Sports/Olympics / Basketball

Reports: Knicks sign Wizards F Jeffries to offer sheet
(AP)
Updated: 2006-07-31 09:56

NEW YORK -- The New York Knicks signed Washington forward Jared Jeffries to an offer sheet believed to be for about $30 million over five years, according to published reports Saturday.

The Knicks gave Jeffries, a restricted free agent, the maximum midlevel salary-cap exception Friday night. The Wizards will have seven days to match the offer and keep the former Indiana star, who averaged 6.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 77 games last season.

"We recognize they have a right to match," Jeffries' agent Andy Miller told the New York Times. "But hopefully, they take into consideration some of the human factors of it. In Jared's mind, he'd be better suited to playing in New York and for the Knicks."

Washington's window doesn't begin until the Knicks submit the offer sheet to the league -- expected to be on Monday, according to the Times and New York Post.

"We have not received an offer, and if or when we do, we will have a week to explore all our options to determine our course of action," Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld told the Post.

The 6-foot-11, 240-pound Jeffries, selected by Washington with the 11th overall pick in the 2002 draft, has averaged 6.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in four seasons with the Wizards.