WESTWEGO — Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower denied reports Wednesday that the franchise has finished a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers to trade New Orleans’ 27th pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft for cash considerations.

Instead, he said that the deal still needs approval from the league office in New York City before any announcement can be made about a deal.

Photo By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

Hornets General Manager Jeff Bower holds a press conference Wednesday to discuss the possibility of trading the franchises 27th pick to Portland in the 2008 NBA Draft.

“As we’re all aware, until that final approval takes place, you do not have a deal,” Bower said. “We have been in discussions about possibly looking into other options for the pick, but at this time, I can’t tell you a deal has been finalized and approved by the league office.”

And it’s not definite that the league will OK the trade before the draft gets to the Hornets’ pick, at which point New Orleans would pick a player Portland wanted and trade him to the Trail Blazers.

By trading the pick away, New Orleans will have opted out the 2008 draft completely, having traded its second-round pick to Chicago when the franchise made the deal to get Tyson Chandler in 2006.

More than that, it appears the Hornets weren’t enthralled with any of the more than 40 prospects they brought in for pre-draft workouts, including New Orleans native Shan Foster or University of Memphis standout Chris Douglas-Roberts.

“That’s part of the big thing we’re taking a good hard look at – (how) can we get the most efficient use of our roster spots and payroll? Where can we get the most return for it?” Bower said.

It could also mean that Bower and head coach Byron Scott are going to look to free agency to fill one of the team’s needs, which includes another point guard, another forward and another frontline player.

“We’ve spent a lot of time looking at our roster and looking at the group of players who will be available in July and have a pretty solid working list we feel provides different things,” Bower said. “But you never know until that period opens up how things unfold.”

The current roster could be different come training camp. Backup guard Jannero Pargo will test the free agent market, though he has said he would like to stay with New Orleans under a long-term contract. And with Rasual Butler getting into legal trouble earlier this week, his spot could suddenly become vacant. Butler was arrested in Miami Monday and charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and wrongful display of a firearm.

For now, though, the most pressing matter is Thursday’s draft. According to Bower, the deal is all but out of the hands of New Orleans and Portland and in the grasp of the league office.

“We’re pretty far along in our discussions,” Bower said. “The last step normally to make something official is league approval. We aren’t there yet, but we’ve had positive conversations and we have to continue.”

Should the league not approve the trade, Bower said the Hornets have a backup plan.

“There are a number of situations on the board that could develop and send you in a different direction, as well,” Bower said. “We’ll be very active today and tomorrow monitoring the situation and preparing for situations.”