Wednesday, January 25, 2006

The Artest Deal Was Done, Until It Was Undone By Artest

After being suspended for the bulk of last season, it didn't take long for Indiana Pacer Ron Artest to become unhappy with the constant displays support and understating from his teammates and management, demanding a trade to just about anywhere. 40 days later, we learn that just about anywhere does not include Sacramento.

The Kings made a deal with the Pacers that was just a signature from the commissioner away from being done, only to be rejected because Ron Artest would rather go to the Golden State Warriors if he was going to be dealt to a bay area team. It was supposed to be Peja Stojakovic for Artest. Since the trade was sitting on the table, neither player was eligible to suit up and play.

The Cleveland Cavaliers beat Indiana 96-66 with out Artest, who wasn't going to play anyway. The Philadelphia 76'ers beat Sacramento 109-103 without Stojakovic, who probably would have.

- It's Just As Well The Artest-Peja Deal Fell Through (SportingNews.com)
- Dealing Artest As Tough As Dealing With Him (FOXSports.com)

UPDATE: Gavin & Joe Maloff are gamblers. They own a casino and the Sacramento Kings. Today, they put a lot of money on the table by going forward with the deal to trade Artest for Stojakovic again, and this time not taking a whinny 'I don't really want to' from the now former Pacer/new King shooting guard. Says Joe Maloff himself:

"We're gamblers. So we're going to take a chance on him. We want to look
forward, otherwise we wouldn't have made this happen."

But what worries me is how much of a strain will dealing with Ron Artest but on the Kings players who are already dealing with Bonzi Wells, who was recently named number seven on a list of the top ten most hated athletes as named by their peers.

- Pacers send Artest to Kings in exchange for Stojakovic (CNN/SI)
- On again: Artest finally sent to Kings for Stojakovic (Sports Network)
- The Ten Most Hated Athletes (GQ)
Posted by J. Cleveland Payne @ 9:55 AM   0 comments ---------------------------------------