Jazz trade for Kings' Clark

While a power forward from the past was downstairs planning his going-away party, Kevin O'Connor was upstairs in his Delta Center office, putting the final touches on a trade for a power forward for the future.

The swap: The Jazz send a future second-round draft choice to Sacramento for two future second-round draft picks and skinny Kings big man Keon Clark, who at 6-foot-11 is bound to take some of the many minutes vacated when 18-season Jazz vet Karl Malone signed with the Los Angeles Lakers last month.

Known for his toothpick-thin legs, Clark has never been a full-time NBA starter, but has averaged 8.2 points, 6 rebounds and 1.63 blocks in 351 games for Denver, Toronto and Sacramento.

"We thought this was a pretty good fit, especially because he can play (power forward)," O'Connor, the Jazz's basketball operations senior vice president, said while sitting in the same Delta Center room where just a few hours earlier Malone was announcing details of his Friday farewell affair.

"We like his athleticism, we like his length," O'Connor added. "We like the fact that he can run the floor, (and) I think his ability to defend at the 5 and at the 4 position can help us."

Clark, 28, will be joining his fourth NBA team in six seasons after stops at two junior colleges, including Dixie in 1995-96, and another two seasons at UNLV.

That busy resume does not scare O'Connor.

Nor, apparently, does the fact Clark was ticketed last summer for having a small amount of marijuana in his car — a citation that later, according to O'Connor, was dismissed. About two years prior to that, he was cited in a similar marijuana possession case. Clark also was suspended for five games after reportedly testing positive for marijuana use during his senior season at UNLV.

"If you look at all this past year . . . he had no problems," O'Connor said.

According to an Associated Press story from last month, however, Clark faces a Sept. 17 trial date on a domestic battery charge in his home state of Illinois. According to the AP, "Prosecutors said he hit a family member . . . He pleaded not guilty, posted $300 bail and was ordered by a judge to have no contact with the victim or the victim's residence."