Trading Artest won't be easy
With teams afraid of the forward, the Kings might have to dump him for little in return.
By Scott Howard-Cooper - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, May 13, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C1
Begin by accepting that there will be no such thing as fair value in return. Low-ball offers will be common, if offers drip in at all. Most calls will be initiated rather than taken.
Just when the Kings thought living with Ron Artest was challenge enough, now comes the real difficulty, trying to get away from him, or at least get away from him without having to mow lawns and take out the trash for a month for whoever takes him off their hands.
Trading Artest has become a priority, if not the priority, within a Kings front office eager to change the roster and, in this case in particular, the culture of the splintered locker room. What basketball president Geoff Petrie and his famed patience will find, as he surely knows, is a mix of window shoppers and a few potentially serious buyers, but also the chance that moving forward will require dumping a talented starting small forward for a minimal return.
"It's getting to the point where you can hope to get some teams that are desperate that are not opposed to taking on that kind of player," said one executive, not wanting to be identified since he was talking about another team's player, yet noting that his team is not interested in Artest.
Meaning there is a likelihood that the Kings will have to swallow hard and take a fire-sale deal to move Artest.
"I would think they would be significant," the executive said of those chances.
There should be opportunities, though. Working in the Kings' favor, Artest is due to make $7.4 million in 2007-08, with the ability to declare himself a free agent afterward, and the same amount in 2008-09 -- an agreeable contract for someone who is 27 and three seasons removed from being named Defensive Player of the Year. He is young and talented, and he makes less than market value for a player with such a résumé.
Working against the Kings: He's Ron Artest.
It has usually been a buyer's market with Artest, only more so now after a season in which he frustrated teammates with bad decisions as a playmaker and a monopolization of the ball. Off the court, he pleaded no contest in May to a misdemeanor charge of inflicting corporal injury on his spouse and received additional negative coverage nationally after being cited in April for not feeding his dog, although no charges were filed in that case.
He has swung all the way back to getting in the way of his own potential greatness, seemingly wasting the good will that had been built from the second half of 2005-06, when he was traded from Indiana for Peja Stojakovic and helped spark the Kings into the playoffs. Once the list of transgressions expanded to include the legal system, organizations that might have had an interest in trying to get him on the cheap had the concern of selling their fan base on a player who had been sentenced to a work release program, 100 hours of community service and anger management courses for striking his wife.
Said a member of one front office -- requesting anonymity since he was criticizing a player not on his team -- when asked whether many teams will be willing to take on Artest and his reputation: "I just can't see it happening. I don't see how. Especially not now."
Good thing for the Kings other teams have their own problems to address. Los Angeles Lakers
Going pedal to the metal, after failing to reach the second round or the playoffs at all for the third time in as many years, isn't just about adding a star to ride shotgun to Kobe Bryant. While that is the obvious part of it, putting them in the middle of any discussion for Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O'Neal, the Lakers on the whole are pushing hard to win now and deal with potential complications later.
The Lakers could offer Kwame Brown in a match of similar salaries. The Kings would inherit the frustration of an enigmatic player unable to grasp his considerable potential, but also the benefit of being able to clear cap space a year earlier than with Artest if Brown did not work out. And if Brown did work out, they would have the inside track on re-signing a talented young center.
The Lakers also could offer Luke Walton in a sign-and-trade, packaged with another, lesser salary (Sasha Vujacic, Maurice Evans, Brian Cook). Artest has superior skills. But Walton has become a good complementary weapon, a smart player who moves the ball, and plugs in to the same spot at small forward. Los Angeles Clippers
Artest for Corey Maggette had been discussed last season. But the serious knee injury that could keep point guard Shaun Livingston out all 2007-08 means a greater likelihood of the Clippers pursuing Mike Bibby. Miami Heat
Much like the Lakers, the Heat has a very strong coach, Pat Riley, and a ticking clock. Miami needs to make something happen before it's Dwyane Wade against the world.
What the Heat does not have is attractive trade pieces. Antoine Walker has four seasons left on a bad contract, although the final two are believed to be non-guaranteed and tied to performance. Jason Williams has one season remaining at a salary similar to Artest's, making Williams moveable. Jason Kapono, after leading the league in three-point percentage, is a free agent and can be used in a sign-and-trade and perhaps packaged with the expiring contract of Michael Doleac or Dorell Wright to make the money match as required.
It all leaves the Kings bargaining from a position of weakness. They have something just in that, though.
The chance to bargain at all.
