Ostertag set to join Kings

THANKSGIVING POINT — He struggled throughout the latter part of nine seasons in Utah to meet the inevitable expectations of a $39 million contract.

Ultimately, appropriately enough, money matters hastened his departure.

The Jazz didn't have enough cash to entice Greg Ostertag to stay, so he is on his way — to Sacramento. Today the 7-foot-2 center signs a two-year contract with the Kings, the second season — according to Ostertag — at his option.

"I understand," he said of Utah's tight budget after it signed Cleveland power forward Carlos Boozer to a six-year, $68 million offer sheet and Detroit center Mehmet Okur to a six-year, $50 million sheet.

"There's no hard feelings on what they offered me, because, you know, they tied up all their money in two guys — which is fine," added Ostertag, who made $8.67 million this past season, his ninth in Utah. "I mean, that's the direction they wanted to go. I know they said they wanted to bring me back, and I believe it. It just didn't work out."

Ostertag would not reveal Sacramento's salary, but did say it exceeds the Jazz's $2.3 million offer.

Utah renounced Ostertag to free money for Boozer and Okur, so it could not exceed the NBA's team payroll salary cap to resign him. When the cap was set at a lower-than-expected $43.87 million, the Jazz knew the relationship was over.

"When (the offer) came in at (2.3)," Ostertag said after coming off the golf course Tuesday night at Thanksgiving Point, "I pretty much decided then that it wasn't gonna work."

Ostertag suggested he never seriously considered Milwaukee's and Toronto's overtures, but did say Houston and Phoenix were legit suitors.

The Rockets, he said, offered more than the Kings.

"The one thing that scared me away from Houston was the playing time. I just wasn't gonna get me hardly any playing time," he said. "With Sacramento, I'm gonna have a chance to get over 20-to-25 minutes a game."

Over the past week, his choices narrowed to the Suns and Kings.

"Phoenix had a pretty good offer on the table," Ostertag said, "but I'd have to wait until the end of the month — and I was afraid that if the thing fell through, then I would be kind of left out in the cold."

The Suns' money apparently would have come only if the Los Angeles Clippers do not match Phoenix's offer to restricted free agent Quentin Richardson.