I believe we have to wait until the Moratorium is lifted on July 9 to make anything official, but since he’s now on the roster for the 08-09 season, I think an Artest trade could be agreed to on principle (the same way that Beno & Baron Davis agreed to terms on their FA contracts).

I think I read this one over on Kingsfans, so kudos to them for thinking it up. Artest to the Clippers for Al Thornton and Tim Thomas. Thornton averaged 15 and 6 as a starter in his rookie season. Tim Thomas is a throw in to make salaries work and has this year and next on his deal, so it doesn’t hurt the Kings in 2010. This deal assumes Brand goes back to the Clips, potentially giving them a starting lineup of Artest, Brand, Kaman, Mobley(?) and Baron Davis. For the Clippers, it’s the difference between being a playoff team and being a playoff threat.

I don’t care too much for Thorton (can he play defense?), and Tim Thomas can rot in hell, but the thought of making the Clippers better is such a tasty thought. Davis, Brand and Artest? Boom tho. All they’ll need is that hot-shooting 2-guard (somehow they gotta swing a deal for Mike Miller), and the LA-LA rivalry will suddenly be legit. Down with the Lakers!

Dude is a straight up chucker. Thorton is not the type of building block the Kings are look for. He is the type of player that puts up big numbers on a sub-par team. I like his rebounding ability but his selfish play is not something I want to see night in and night out.

They are now in a win now situation and although Thorton has some potential, Artest is a more polished NBA player. Brand and Davis are both 29 and Mobley is 33, they don’t have two years for Thorton to develop into the player he might become. Plus, Artest would give the Clipps some one to match up against Kobe.

A team cannot trade consecutive 1st Round Picks, and Memphis still has another pick coming (in 2010). I don’t know if LAL can trade their 2012 pick this far ahead or not, but that would be the earliest 1st Rounder we could get, unless it’s possible to trade for “future considerations” and just tell them who to pick for us in 2009. But now we’re getting way beyond my understanding of the CBA.

Oh, and just so you know: Artest & K9 for Odom works just fine with no other players involved. No need to swap K9 for SAR to match salaries.

But I think Riley could do better if he decided to deal Beasley.

Odom is an expiring contract, so he would only be guaranteed to be here for a year. You’ve gotten rid of a problem (Artest) and a bad contract (K9), freeing up some $8 million in 2009.

There is no way in the world the Kings get Beasley for the pieces they have to trade.

From your original post:

Riley isn’t sold on Beasley – we could make him a SF?

If that’s a realistic option, then why wouldn’t they just do that?

...until next year at least? Because he’s a BYC player until then.

Trade value of Martin’s salary from the Kings perspective: $4.6M
Trade value of Martin’s salary from everyone else’s perspective: $9.2M

The only way a Martin deal gets done is if a team with salary cap space is involved somehow. There’s virtually no way to get equal value out of Martin while he’s a BYC player.

Salmons certainly proved he can start in the NBA. If you deal Artest and yield a starting 4, your better off than getting back a starting 3. 25 wins is a little extreme.

Francisco put up 16 points on 45% from the field and 37% from three along with 4.6 boards, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals as a starter last season.
Salmons put up 17.5 points on 50% from the field and 38% from three along with 5.4 boards, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals as a starter last season.

They’re both starters. Do we win more games with those guys starting rather than Artest? Probably not. But we net a better draft pick and have far, far less bullshit to deal with if Salmons or Garcia starts.

about Cisco and Salmons. Cisco is a starter in this league. However, on our team – if either Artest or Salmons remains – he will be a 6th man. Cisco has a TON of game on both sides of the ball. Seriously, do you even watch him play? You and I have had this debate before and I really don’t think you have a good sense for skill level or Bball IQ. Salmons numbers as a starter are close to 20/game. Explain to me how that is not a starter’s numbers. Both guys are quality players with different strengths Neither are “nothing more” than backups.

Get what you can regardless of where he ends up. But also remember that whatever team he gets traded to also retain his Larry Bird rights.

And who cares if we trade him to the L*kers? Kobe will be old by the time we’re a contender anyway. If that’s the deal that nets us the most, then we have to take it. I wouldn’t have cared if Bibby went to them last season if it would have gotten us more than the poo-poo platter we got from ATL.

but I don’t see the numbers adding up as the Kings would not be within the 125% rule on salaries.

I’m glad the Kings control Artest for the next couple of weeks because he still has value.

This is NBA basketball not high school and every time you turn around this guy is embarrassing the franchise, himself and us as fans. Its not like Sacramento is first place Ron Artest has been run out of.

We’ve gone round and round over this ad nauseum the last year or so. Artest is an asset, a damn good player who has a certain value to the franchise.

Every time he opens his mouth, every time he does something stupid, his value to the franchise decreases.

My guess is we have no choice but to keep him, and hope a contender will give up something of value for him at the trade deadline. But the drama definitely has an impact in the long term. You can deny it all you like, but Artest is the type of headache not many teams are willing to take on (proven by the lack of quality offers for him at the trade deadline last year).

I’m glad you are looking forward to a .500 season and then seeing Artest walk away and the franchise get nothing for him. Everyone else would rather we win 35 and get something back that might help this team after he’s gone.

Reports from insiders say that Riley’s staff had to talk him out of trading the pick all the way up to draft time. My original post was Ron- 5 million in expiring contracts (over 12 mill total), a first round pick and taking on two bad contracts. Its not just an Artest swap. I also labeled it “pipe dream”.

The Kings have zero chance at Beasley without trading Kevin Martin. ZERO.

they don’t have any really bad contracts. Here, look at this. Now, craft a deal that helps them contractually and beats whatever somebody else can offer them. It can’t be done, unless you want to ship them Martin. And the idea that Miami has to do something now is ridiculous. Wade is only 26 years old. Yes, he can opt out in 2010, but the Heat will be able to pay him more than anyone, so he’s likely staying put. And if not, then they’ll ba able to convince someone else to come to South Beach and hang with Michael Beasley.

Let’s all face the facts. We couldn’t get a mediocre 1st round pick and Linas Kleiz for Artest, and now we’re going to use him as the center piece to acquire Michael Beasley?

The only issue that I see here is that Atlanta gets an expensive, selfish, one and done guy, and we get a great player for absolutely nothing. Also, Marion is expiring, so basically Miami is trading Marion’s services for Artest, as the other guys are basically filler.

Smith is supposedly going to get an offer from Philly. If you’re Atlanta, wouldn’t you just match the offer on Smith as opposed to making your deal? Atlanta can basically match offers on both Smith and Childress and still be under the luxury tax, and Bibby comes off the books at the end of this year, so they’re looking pretty good moving forward. They’re not a 2010 reload team, but they don’t have to be, as they will already have Horford, Smith, Johnson as their big three with a decision to make on Marvin Williams next year.

Kevin Durant and Jeff Green