Kings Trade Clark to Jazz

Sacramento traded center/forward Keon Clark and two second-round draft picks to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday for a second-round choice, a move the Kings made strictly for financial reasons.

Owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have never been afraid of spending to improve the two-time Pacific Division champions, but even the Maloofs wanted to lower the luxury tax bill they will have to pay after acquiring All-Star center Brad Miller two weeks ago.

“In this sport, you have to have a balancing act sometimes between the basketball side and the business side,” Joe Maloof said. “This time, it was a business decision. It saves the franchise $9.5 million.... Our salaries were out of line, but we’re about where we want to be now, and we haven’t really hurt the team.”

Clark exercised his $5-million contract option for the coming season a few days before the Kings acquired Miller and his seven-year, $68-million contract from Indiana.

The Kings’ payroll was the NBA’s fifth-highest even before Miller was added. Sacramento now has 10 players under contract for the coming season, with a payroll in the neighborhood of $65 million.

“This was a very difficult decision, but we have to consider the overall economic ability of our team in this market,” said Geoff Petrie, the Kings’ president of basketball operations.

Clark is headed to his fourth team in five NBA seasons. He averaged 6.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks last season after signing with the Kings as a free agent. He started several games while Chris Webber was injured.

*

Lamar Odom of the Clippers was in South Florida awaiting an offer sheet from the Miami Heat that could be similar to the front-loaded $82-million deal for six seasons that Pat Riley extended to Elton Brand last month, a league source said.

The Clippers matched the Heat’s offer to Brand after only three days last month, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether they would do the same if Odom were to receive a big offer from Miami.

Riley was set to return from a working vacation today and other Heat officials would not comment for the record. Neither Odom nor his agent, Jeff Schwartz, returned phone calls.

*

Terry Porter, a native of Milwaukee who played 17 seasons in the NBA, has been hired to coach the Bucks, according to a league source.

The Bucks called a news conference for today to introduce their new coach. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it will be Porter, who was an assistant with Sacramento last season.

“It’s great news,” Joe Maloof said. “He deserves it. He works hard. Any time one of your assistant coaches has a chance to get a head coaching job, it’s a great thing for both franchises. I wish him all the luck in the world, because he deserves it.”

Porter didn’t immediately return a phone message, and Buck General Manager Larry Harris, who hasn’t spoken publicly since the firing of George Karl on July 20, wasn’t available.

Porter, 40, met last month with Harris and returned over the weekend for a second interview with the team’s owner, Sen. Herb Kohl.

Karl was fired after posting a 205-173 record in five seasons in Milwaukee. The Bucks are paying him $7 million for 2003-04 plus more than $1.5 million for his 1% of the team that Kohl gave him two years ago.

*

Derrick Coleman re-signed with the Philadelphia 76ers, a team source said. The signing will be announced at a news conference today, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Coleman is getting a three-year contract worth up to $13.5 million.

Coleman, a forward/center, averaged 9.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in 64 games last season, including 35 starts. He was perhaps Philadelphia’s most consistent player in the playoffs, averaging 13.6 points and 8.0 rebounds.

*

Seattle SuperSonic point guard Luke Ridnour, the 14th overall pick in the NBA draft, will undergo surgery to repair a severely pulled abdominal muscle.

Ridnour was to be operated on today in Philadelphia.

Seattle General Manager Rick Sund said Ridnour will be hospitalized for one day and then will be out three to four weeks before he can start jogging.

He will be able to start running in five weeks, Sund said.

Sund said Ridnour should be ready to play when the SuperSonics open their training camp at the end of September.

*

The Heat signed power forward Udonis Haslem to a two-year contract. The 6-foot-9 Haslem, a former star with the Florida Gators, played in France last season.