Artest Not Opting Out?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>In an e-mail to the Bee late Thursday night, Ron Artest sounded like a man who plans on being in Sacramento next season.
The Kings small forward has until June 30 to exercise the early termination option in his contract and become a free agent. As of now, however, he said the option is hardly being considered at all.
"My agent (Mark Stevens) is on a business trip," Artest wrote. "We have not talked about opting out at all. The playoffs just got me thinking that if me and kev (Martin) (played) the majority (of last season) and mike (Bibby) doesnt miss all those games, we could have piled on 12 or 18 more wins. That would have put us at 56 wins and that is still a failure."
Artest, of course, deemed last season a failure and has taken the general stance that anything less than a championship is a lost cause. On a non-basketball note, he said he's spending part of the offseason organizing a substantial effort to provide scholarships for high school and college students.
"Right now my manager and I are gearing for my excel university foundation," he wrote. "We are preparing a large amount of scholarships for high school and college students. This is very exciting being able to help kids and teens."
Artest is scheduled to be in studio with KHTK's Carmichael Dave on Friday night beginning around 9 p.m. And as a friendly reminder, Artest is believed to be moonlighting as a sideline TV reporter for Saturday's Monarchs regular season opener at home against San Antonio. By the sound of it, it won't be his last appearance at Arco Arena. - Sam Amick</div>

Source: SacBee