East Rutherford, N.J. » After declaring he would table all talk of free agency until after the season, Jazz forward Carlos Boozer told an ESPN.com reporter after Wednesday's game that he plans to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.

"I'm opting out. No matter what, I'm going to get a raise regardless," Boozer said. "I am going to opt out, I don't see why I wouldn't, I think it's a very good business decision for me and my family, but I'd also like to see what happens with the Jazz and stay here."

General manager Kevin O'Connor said neither Boozer nor his representatives have told the team that he is definitively opting out. He called the timing of Boozer's comments "peculiar," with the All-Star forward out injured, but said the decision was understandable.

"From a professional standpoint," O'Connor said, "you can look at it and say you can understand why at his age and his position and certainly where he's going to and what he's done, it makes sense to say, 'I'd like a longer-term contract than just waiting another year.'"

O'Connor added: "We've told Carlos that he's an important piece of the organization. He's one of the guys we would like to build and continue to build the foundation around, and he's told us that he wants to stay."

Boozer would be opting out of $12.7 million for the 2009-10 season.

More tests

Having missed his 15th game Wednesday with a strained left quadriceps tendon, Boozer will undergo a second MRI exam today in Detroit after experiencing continued soreness in his knee.

Boozer went through practice Tuesday, saying he "felt really good" and calling it "a good step in the right direction," but couldn't shake the soreness Wednesday. He originally went for an MRI on Nov. 20, the day after he suffered the injury against Milwaukee.

"I want to see what's going on because it's a little sore and I was hoping it would be done being sore by now," Boozer said.

rsiler@sltrib.com