In a stunning turnaround, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said Sunday that he had decided against selling the Milwaukee Bucks to Michael Jordan and would "continue to own them, improve them and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin."

Kohl's abrupt announcement came after weeks of intense local and national speculation that the retired basketball superstar had reached a tentative agreement to buy the team or was about to do so. The announcement would have to be considered a huge disappointment for Jordan.

Kohl's announcement capped an afternoon in which the Bucks released general manager Ernie Grunfeld from the last year of his contract, allowing Grunfeld to pursue what is expected to be a similar position with the Washington Wizards. That move immediately raised questions about the future of the basketball operations of the franchise.

Assistant general manager Larry Harris, the son of former Bucks coach Del Harris, was named acting general manager.

Jordan ended his playing career this season with the Wizards, then was fired by owner Abe Pollin as Jordan was poised to take over that team's basketball operations. Jordan had high hopes of becoming an owner in the National Basketball Association.

Ernie Grunfeld's job is done with the Milwaukee Bucks.

But it appears likely his days with the Washington Wizards are just beginning.

Bucks owner Herb Kohl released Grunfeld from the final year of his general manager's contract Sunday, just a few hours before Kohl announced that the National Basketball Association team was no longer for sale.

With Grunfeld officially out, the Bucks named Larry Harris as acting general manager. The 40-year-old Harris has been with the Bucks organization in various positions since 1990, and has served as assistant general manager to Grunfeld since August 2001.

Grunfeld is expected to interview for the Wizards' president of basketball operations position, a job once held by Michael Jordan. Wizards owner Abe Pollin has targeted the 48-year-old Grunfeld as the man to resurrect the moribund Washington franchise, which has not reached the playoffs since 1997.

The Milwaukee Bucks yesterday released General Manager Ernie Grunfeld from the final year of his contract, allowing him to begin official negotiations with the Washington Wizards about their vacant president of basketball operations job.

If hired, Grunfeld would assume the job left vacant by Michael Jordan, who yesterday was no longer a candidate to purchase the Milwaukee franchise. The Bucks' owner, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), pulled out of negotiations to sell the team to Jordan, who played for the past two seasons with Washington before being rebuffed by Wizards owner Abe Pollin in an attempt to regain his front-office job as president of basketball operations. Jordan held the top basketball executive post from January 2000 to September 2001, before coming back to play.

The move to hire Grunfeld has been in the works for days.

"I have one year left on my contract and the Bucks graciously have allowed me to resign and seek employment," Grunfeld said in a statement released by the Bucks.

Grunfeld and his agent were expected to begin talks with Pollin right away. League sources recently said a deal could be finalized by early this week -- maybe as soon as today -- and Grunfeld could be with the Wizards by the time the free agent negotiating period gets underway Tuesday.

The team has called a news conference for 2:30 p.m. today at MCI Center. Initially it was to introduce draft picks Jarvis Hayes and Steve Blake, but the media advisory regarding the news conference gave no specifics about the topic of the assembly. The only other candidates for the basketball operations job known to have spoken to the Wizards are attorney and former University of Maryland star Len Elmore and NBA official and Hall of Fame player Bob Lanier.

Michael Jordan looked into buying the Milwaukee Bucks. But in the end, Herb Kohl wasn't ready to sell.

Kohl, the Bucks owner and U.S. senator from Wisconsin, announced that he is pulling his team off the market.

In a statement released Sunday, Kohl said: "I have decided not to sell the Milwaukee Bucks at this time, and will continue to own them, improve them, and commit them to remaining in Wisconsin."

Kohl, a Milwaukee native who has owned the team since 1985, acknowledged that he had "detailed discussions" with Jordan, who is looking to remain in the league after retiring in Washington as a player after the 2002-03 season.

The deal apparently was close to getting done, although it still would have needed the NBA's approval, a process that could have taken several weeks.

Participants included rapper/producers Warren G and Soopafly and several NBA stars, including the Washington Wizards' Bryon Russell and the Houston Rockets' Juaquin Hawkins, who both played at Cal State Long Beach, and DeShawn Stevenson of the Utah Jazz.

The second round of the NBA Draft is a numbers game for those players not good enough to earn the guaranteed contracts meted out to first-rounders.

Take last season, when just seven of 29 second-round picks were on opening day rosters, compared with 24 of 28 first-rounders. Cleveland's Dajuan Wagner (No. 6) was absent because of a kidney condition, and New Jersey's Nenad Kristic (No. 24) spent last season overseas.

But Steve Blake, the 38th pick overall in Thursday's draft and the second Maryland star taken by Washington in as many seasons, is in a different situation. For one thing, the Wizards don't have a legitimate point guard signed to a contract. And the guys they have masquerading as such either don't want to play it (Larry Hughes) or have yet to grasp the nuances of NBA point guard play (Blake's ex-Terrapins teammate, Juan Dixon).

If the Wizards don't re-sign Tyronn Lue, they might pursue free agents like Orlando's Darrell Armstrong or San Antonio's Speedy Claxton. But that's down the road. For now, at least, Washington looks like the perfect fit for the 6-foot-3 Blake, a four-year starter at Maryland.

Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Ernie Grunfeld is expected to speak with Wizards owner Abe Pollin in the next few days to finalize terms of a contract that would make him Washington's new president of basketball operations, league sources said. Grunfeld did not confirm or deny his expected change in jobs after trading Sam Cassell and Ervin Johnson to the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday for Joe Smith and Anthony Peeler.

Wizards officials were not available for comment and Grunfeld's agent did not return a phone message. Sources said Grunfeld could be with the Wizards as early as Tuesday, which is also the first day teams are allowed to speak with free agents. It also is believed that the NBA and the Bucks will acknowledge next week the sale of the team to an ownership group headed by Michael Jordan, who played the last two seasons with the Wizards and spent 19 months before that as Washington's president of basketball operations. Jordan would have to go through the league's approval process, which could take weeks.

Further indicating Grunfeld's arrival in Washington was outgoing General Manager Wes Unseld's pledge during Thursday's draft that this was his last day on the job. Unseld, according to team sources, has been cleaning out his MCI Center office over the past few days. He is taking an indefinite leave of absence to have knee-replacement surgery.

Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson said Thursday that if he were Michael Jordan, he'd buy an NBA team rather than work for someone else.

"I'm an owner," Johnson said. "To me, if ever given a choice between being the guy who works for somebody or being an owner, I'm always going to go for ownership."

Apparently Jordan concurs. The Observer reported last month that Jordan is assembling a group to try to buy the Milwaukee Bucks. ESPN reported Thursday that a deal between Jordan and U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, the Bucks' owner, is close to happening.

Jordan is choosing whether to buy the Bucks or accept an offer from Johnson to become part-owner and team president of the Bobcats. Johnson said he's placed no deadline on Jordan's decision and wouldn't handicap the chances of Jordan joining the Bobcats.

The Bucks gave permission to the Washington Wizards to interview general manager Ernie Grunfeld for a similar position. The Bucks had previously denied that permission. The team's change of heart is another indication Jordan might be taking over in Milwaukee.

The Washington Wizards signed Jerry Stackhouse to a two-year extension yesterday but denied rumors that they had been given permission by the Milwaukee Bucks to talk with Ernie Grunfeld about the vacant job of president of basketball operations.
   However, several sources with knowledge of Grunfeld's situation maintained that Grunfeld would be released from his contract and that the Wizards did have permission to meet with him.
   "I have never met Ernie Grunfeld," Wizards owner Abe Pollin said. "I have not talked to him. The rumors are just what they are, rumors. I have talked to a lot of people, and I'm not discounting having talked to anybody. We did not have permission."
   According to sources, Grunfeld, who conducted the Bucks' draft last night, will be free to meet with the Wizards by Tuesday.
   Grunfeld, who joined the Bucks as general manager in 1999, guided the Bucks to the Eastern Conference finals in 2001. Surprisingly, Grunfeld was hired by the Bucks after the New York team he put together reached the NBA Finals in 1999. Grunfeld served as general manager of the Knicks from 1993 to 1999 before being fired.
   The Stackhouse situation was much more cut and dried.
   Stackhouse had until Tuesday to decide whether he would opt out of the final two years of his contact. Stackhouse, who had approximately $14 million coming to him over the next two seasons, will now earn between $32 million and $35 million through the 2007 season.

There is no agreement in principle to sell the Milwaukee Bucks to Michael Jordan, and the basketball superstar had no hand in the Bucks' draft selections Thursday night, NBA Commissioner David Stern said Thursday.

Stern's comments came relayed from Tim Frank, a spokesman for the National Basketball Association.

A spokesman for Jordan could not be reached for comment. Jordan has not spoken publicly about his efforts to buy the Bucks, but is making an effort to buy the team from U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the owner of the team since 1985.

Earlier Thursday, a report published on ESPN.com Insider, a subscription service on ESPN.com, said Jordan had reached a tentative agreement to buy the Bucks from Kohl.

The report, citing unnamed but "multiple league sources," said not only had Jordan reached a tentative deal with Kohl to buy the Bucks but that Jordan was running the team and, in effect, was in a position to make the call on the Bucks' first-round draft pick.

Despite several attempts, Kohl refused to comment. A Bucks spokesman in Milwaukee said Kohl would have no comment on the possible sale of the team.