Suns ring up Bell

The first strike of the NBA's 2005 summer shopping market has hit the Jazz hard.

Unrestricted free agent swingman Raja Bell informed the Jazz he has orally accepted a contract offer from the Phoenix Suns, Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor confirmed Friday.

"We're disappointed we lost him," O'Connor said, "but that's free agency."

The contract agreed to by Bell, who had been identified by Jazz officials as a signing priority for the summer, is believed to average $4 million to $6 million per season.

"We're still negotiating the terms and everything," Bell told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, "but that's where I intend to sign."

The deal was made on the first day of the summer that NBA teams are permitted to negotiate with free agents, but it cannot be formalized until the league's signing moratorium ends July 22.

Bell heard from the Suns and other teams moments after the market opened at midnight Eastern time Friday, and he informed the Jazz of his decision sometime Friday morning.

"We talked," O'Connor said.

O'Connor did not disclose a timeline on how events unfolded, but Bell did.

"At 12 o'clock my phone started ringing. I was in the shower. It was crazy . . . I had guys that wanted to fly me there; I had people that wanted to catch flights out to see me. It was interesting," he told KFNZ-1320 AM's Ian Fitzsimmons. "It was all happening really quick, and then I got a call from my agent, maybe a couple hours after that, saying Phoenix was already interested and he thought we could get something that would be great for both parties put together before the 22nd.

"I felt comfortable with that, so I intended to sign with them. From there, we hadn't heard from the Jazz yet. So it was tough for me at that point. Even though I had faith that it was going to work out (with Utah), I just didn't have any guarantee (as to) what was going to happen. So I did what I thought I needed to do. I called Kevin (Friday) morning, after I got a voicemail from him.

"It was a difficult conversation. I basically told him 'thank you,' and how much I enjoyed Salt Lake and loved playing there, and that I'd be moving on. He said he understood. He was disappointed, and that's where we are."