PHOENIX (AP) Tom Gugliotta came to the Phoenix Suns as a star forward who averaged 20 points a game in the previous two seasons. Nearly six years later, he left as a player who rarely got off the bench.

The Suns traded the one-time all-star to the Utah Jazz on Thursday for two injured players _ forward-centers Keon Clark and Ben Handlogten. The Jazz also got two conditional first-round draft picks, a 2005 second-round pick and an undisclosed amount of cash.

Gugliotta, who averaged 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds in 30 games this season, is earning $11.6 million in the final year of a six-year contract.

``This deal was clearly driven by the luxury tax,'' Suns president Bryan Colangelo said in a statement released by the team. ``The end result puts us comfortably under the expected tax threshold.''

As part of the trade, Phoenix will give up the least-favorable of its two first-round picks in the 2004 draft _ either its own or the selection it got from New York in a previous trade. The second conditional first-round pick also came from New York and is protected through 2010.

Clark, in his sixth NBA season, has not played since undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs in his right ankle on Nov. 24. Orlando selected Clark in the first round _ the 13th pick overall _ of the 1998 draft. He has averaged 8.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.62 blocks in six seasons with Denver, Toronto, Sacramento and Utah.

Handlogten is a 30-year-old NBA rookie who averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds before he went down with a torn knee ligament on Dec. 26.

Gugliotta turned down a seven-year, $86 million offer to stay with Minnesota in January 1999 and signed a six-year, $58.5 million contract with Phoenix. Serious injuries and a near-death experience followed.

On the team bus inside the Rose Garden after a Dec. 17, 1999, game in Portland, Gugliotta suffered a seizure and stopped breathing twice. He may not have survived has his then-wife not told one of his teammates by cell phone that he had been taking a new nutritional supplement. Doctors believe that supplement caused the seizure.

A grateful Gugliotta returned to the team. But three months later, in a game against Utah, Gugliotta ruptured every ligament in his left knee. The injury knocked him off the 2000 Olympic team, and he hasn't been the same player since.

Gugliotta averaged 15.1 points in 97 games before undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds after it.

He sat out 44 games last season because of a stress fracture in his right foot. This season, his playing time diminished, then disappeared altogether as the Suns were dismantled in salary-cutting moves aimed at making money available for free agents next season.

Gugliotta, 34, did not practice with the Suns on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. He had said he would welcome a trade to Utah, a deal that had been rumored for weeks. He wanted more playing time, but didn't complain about his situation with the Suns.

``He was no problem,'' Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni said. ``You just hope it works out for him. The Suns are going in a different direction. This is by far better for him.''

The Suns went after Gugliotta six years ago after their frantic efforts to re-sign Antonio McDyess failed.

Ironically, a trade with the Knicks brought McDyess back to Phoenix. He too is a shadow of his former self after a severe knee injury.

``Man, that's the business you know,'' McDyess said. ``You never know what to expect.''