<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Ron Artest says it's likely he'll remain with the Sacramento Kings next season rather than opt out of his contract. "Most likely we won't [opt out]," Artest, speaking for himself and agent Mark Stevens, said after Tuesday's win over the Houston Rockets, according to The Sacramento Bee. "We're not really worried about the money or anything like that. We're just worried about playing ball. That's how I've been this whole season, just worried about playing ball and we'll see what happens," Artest said, according to the report. Artest has changed his mind on such matters before. But according to the report, he said his happiness in Sacramento outweighs the money he could make on the free agent market. Artest is due to make $7.4 million next season. "There's a lot of teams that could use me out there that are [under the salary] cap and have got the money," he said, according to the Bee. "The issue's not the market, because there's only a few players as good as me that [will be] free agents out there anyway. "I just like [the Kings]. I told my agent that. I said there's only a few people I'm wanting to play for," Artest said, according to the report. "And we're not going to expose those names, or those teams, but I just want to win." Kings co-owner Joe Maloof said earlier this week that he would consider re-signing Artest if he doesn't opt out, the Bee reported. "If he plays great this year and decides not to opt out and has another terrific year, then sure we're going to look at signing him," Maloof said, according to the newspaper. "Sure, absolutely. It's up to him, though, really. It's up to him. The ball's in his court. ... All the guys like him in the locker room. He brings such an intensity to the game. It's up to him."</div> Source
This is good for the Kings. Artest will most likely stay healthy and in his best behavior because of the contract year. Sacramento should really look to trade him though, this team needs to get younger.
It seems Artest changes his mind every few months as to whether or not he's opting out, but I think he realizes that he won't get much money on the free agent market. The teams that have cap space (namely Philly and Memphis) probably won't throw a lot of money his way, and the teams that he wants to play for are over the cap and can't give much more than the MLE, which is less than he's making now. We (Philly) were reportedly interested in him at the deadline, but I don't think it was anything serious, and more than likely it would have been for cap reasons if anything actually happened. I don't see us going after him again under any circumstances, especially with the way we've been playing over the past two months. I think Denver needs to try to get him again, although I don't know who they'd give up now. I know George Karl pleaded with the front office not to trade for Artest, but if Denver misses the playoffs, I think they'll end up firing George Karl because they need a defensive-minded coach to try and get that team to play some defense. Plus Kleiza has been disappointing since the deadline... if he didn't have that fluke 41 point game against Utah earlier in the year, I think Artest is in a Nuggets uniform right now.
Denver is a perfect fit. Artest can play in a gun and run team and still provide above average perimeter defense, the guy is in great shape. Pretty dumb not to make a move for Artest.
