Artest "99% Sure" He'll Play for Kings

by coolcatreportdotcom on Jun 17, 2008 10:27 PM PDT Comment 17 comments

Sacramento Kings forward Ron Artest, attending Tuesday night's Game 6 of the NBA Finals, told ESPN.com that he's "99 percent sure I won't opt out of my contract" this month to become a free agent July 1.

I guess this is another of those 13 stories in 13 days deals ... he did leave that 1% option just in case someone (Lakers? Spurs?) makes him a deal he can't refuse.

Now that the NBA title no longer goes through the Western Conference, you might see some really crazy things happen.

(This is a FanPost from a member of the Sactown Royalty community. The views expressed come from the member, and not Sactown Royalty staff.)

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teams went for the crazy route

last trade deadline and they didn’t workout (mavs and suns). I don’t see the lakers trying to get artest because they were so close this year and with a healthy bynum they can do some more interesting things with their already beautiful offense. Another player who will help them is Trevor Ariza who when healthy is a very good role player. I’m pretty sure ron-ron will stay, but that 1% with him is more like 50.

when will the Kenny Thomas Reign of Terror end?!!??

by diehardkingsfan5 on Jun 17, 2008 10:38 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I think if the Lakers really wanted to go for all small forward that can defend, I think they consider Shawn Marion first in a Lamar Odom-Shawn Marion swap.

BOOK IT!

by kingme18 on Jun 18, 2008 6:16 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Maybe, maybe not

There are still some questions as to whether or not Marion is going to opt out. Also, I’m not sure that’s a trade that Miami wants to make. And remember, Marion wanted out of Phoenix because he did not like his role there. Would he be any happier in LA? Finally, what the Lakers need is toughness, and Ron Artest is that.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jun 18, 2008 8:03 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

True on all counts

You’re right on all counts. It certainly seems like Marion would rather lose and put up numbers than win and play a role.

by Carl on Jun 18, 2008 11:32 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

If I've said it once...

SAVE RON ARTEST! (you’re killin’ me)

uhh, kingme, Odem just finished proving once again that he’s soft and has no heart in big games. Not the first time he’s shown it either.[Clippers] Didn’t Pat Riley just get rid of that guy? Antoine Walker?
Besides, Mary doesn’t play D either.

eternal skeptical optimist

by lietothegirls on Jun 18, 2008 9:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

To be fair

Riley used Odom as a chip to get Shaq (and in turn another Title) . . . you can’t hold that against him.

by smgmatt on Jun 18, 2008 9:52 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Save Ron Artest

“One must first save themselves before they can indeed be saved.”

I’m not sure if that was Solomon, Leonardo DeCaprio or Krusty the clown, but I’m pretty sure one of them said it.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jun 18, 2008 9:54 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Artest only can accept mid-level exceptions

If Artest wants to play for a championship contender next season (Lakers, Spurs, Celts, etc etc), he’d need to sign a mid-level exception, since all of those teams are heavily over the cap and can’t really negotiate on the money that free agents want. The mid-level exception for 07-08 was at $5.36 million (according to Wikipedia). So, this means that if Artest signed with one of those teams, he’d be opting for less money than he’d get next season. Signing with poor teams heavily under the cap (Charlotte, etc) would be the only way he’d get that 12 to 14 mil his agent is asking for.

I think that’s why Artest might stay another season. He’s probably thinking of signing with a championship contender, but doesn’t want to be suckered into a long term deal at mid-level, then have the team get thrown into the gutter.

by CloudyEyes on Jun 18, 2008 2:54 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

If you read the comments

on the linked article at ESPN (which I rarely do unless I’m supremely bored), the Lakers’ fans are swearing that if Artest comes for the mid-level, he’ll surely make up the difference and more in endorsments by moving to their fine city.

I hope he’s as delusional as they are.

The scab is off, the wound bleeds again.
-lietothegirls

by KK on Jun 18, 2008 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, Laker fans are up in arms

I’ve read a few boards and there’s 3 things that I’ve noticed they’ve wanted…
1 – Fire Phil Jackson
2 – Sign Ron Artest
3 – Get rid of Lamar Odom

I think Ron Ron’s leaning towards opting for another year or a sign and trade in hopes that the Kings would trade his contract out to a better team, so that he wouldn’t need to go through all that mid-level crap. I hope the Kings do a sign and trade with Artest, though. The benefits of a sign and trade would be that we’d get some value for trading out Artest and Artest would get a bigger contract than the one he currently has. The downside for Artest is that the Kings would be dealing him out and Artest wouldn’t really have much control in what team he gets traded to. I suspect that if a sign and trade were to happen, there’d be a few back-room discussions with Artest about it in what teams Artest would want to play for and trade discussions with teams that Artest would want to play for.

by CloudyEyes on Jun 18, 2008 8:44 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Complicated

If they do a sign and trade, it will be cause the annual contract amount for Artest to increase. If that happens, the Kings will have to take close to the new contract amount back in trade. That will not leave them enough money to sign Beno, at least not without getting into luxury tax land, which the Maloof’s definitely don’t want to do at this time. So unless the sign and trade involves a viable PG, the Kings would almost be better off just letting him walk.

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jun 18, 2008 8:50 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

You have learned well Grasshopper

No mistakes in the tango, darling. Not like life. It's simple. That's what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, and get tangled, you tango on

by pookeyguru on Jun 18, 2008 8:57 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hmmm...

Would you consider Farmar a viable PG?

by cabz on Jun 18, 2008 11:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Farmar

is at least a viable backup, and Odom/Farmar for Artest/K9(woof!) would work from a dollars standpoint.

I think this is probably the most remote of trade possibilities. The Maloof’s didn’t want to trade Bibby to the Lakers. I can’t imagine that they would want to deal Ron there. Of course, I also laughed when I saw the Shaq to Phoenix and Pau to LA “rumors.”

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jun 19, 2008 8:21 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

weird set of "improvements"

considering there isn’t much “trade kobe” backlash. Though, think about it – fresh off an MVP season, how much can he fetch in the market? Kobe and Coby for Melo and Nene, anyone? That’s too outlandish – but I am curious as to why no backlash considering the brickfest he put up in game 6.

Mikki Moore in the skills challenge! - LPA

by iashwash on Jun 19, 2008 2:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Artest to Dallas?

The Hoopsworld rumormongers have Artest going to Dallas or one of the other two Texas cities.

They also think Phoenix is willing to dump Boris Diaw or Leandro Barbosa for a No. 1 pick becuase they like the depth of this year’s draft.

I think I’d be willing to trade our No. 1 and some filler (K9) for either Barbosa or Diaw.

by coolcatreportdotcom on Jun 19, 2008 10:47 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for the link, coolcat

I like Barbosa. He would be better than anyone we would probably draft at #12. You’d probably have to offer Salmons or Moore to even get Phoenix to pay attention, as K9(woof!) gives them no saves them little money. Barbosa will make $19.1 million over the next three years, with a 4th year at his option at $7.6 million. Make no mistake, though. He is a shoot first, pass second guard. But I’m betting that Phoenix could find a better deal than that

SACTOWN ROYALTY - Try our thick creamy shakes!

by section214 on Jun 19, 2008 3:20 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs