OT (Sort of): Artest Still Undecided On Opting Out

Post #1 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:21 pm

The Kings are still waiting for Ron Artest to decide whether or not he will opt out of his contract this summer, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The team will owe him $8.45 million next season if he opts to play out the final year of his deal.

Artest wants to get paid, and the Kings can afford to give him the most money because they hold his Bird rights. However, he would prefer a long-term deal, something Sacramento hasn't decided on yet.

Artest and Corey Maggette are basically in the same exact situation this summer concerning their contracts. What happens with Artest could be a good indication of what Corey may do with his early termination option.

Post #2 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:25 pm

I forgot to add that Artest had previously said this past winter that he wouldn't opt out.

jgustav1 · Post #3 » by **jgustav1** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:44 am

Maggette has a lot less baggage and more value than Artest does at this point in his career.

Post #4 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:28 am

And Maggette has a career that has been riddled by injury. Maggette has been healthy about as long as Artest has behaved himself so I'd say their value is about even now that both players appear to have balanced out.

jgustav1 · Post #5 » by **jgustav1** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:48 am

loflin3hree5ive wrote:And Maggette has a career that has been riddled by injury. Maggette has been healthy about as long as Artest has behaved himself so I'd say their value is about even now that both players appear to have balanced out.

Maggette will earn more than Artest next year, no question. He has also played in more games than Artest in the last 2 seasons.

Post #6 » by **loflin3hree5ive** » Fri May 16, 2008 7:05 am

Artest is a house-hold name version of Corey and any news pertaining to Ron is more likely than not going to affect Corey. Free agency is about trends, whether you want to pay attention to them or not is up to you. Corey and Ron are in the same boat.

Post #7 » by **mkwest** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:30 am

I guess it could go either way. If you're looking for a more efficient scorer without the off the court drama, then Maggette is your guy. Artest contributes on both sides of the ball but you never know what the extra baggage is going to consist of. He's just unstable and unpredictable and that diminishes his value.

jgustav1 · Post #8 » by **jgustav1** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:03 pm

mkwest wrote:Artest contributes on both sides of the ball but you never know what the extra baggage is going to consist of. He's just unstable and unpredictable and that diminishes his value.

Exactly. Artest has great defensive skills and has been a one time All Star while Corey hasn't ever made an All Star team. His career has been trending downward since that point though with suspensions, talking about retiring, etc. At this point, there probably are very few teams willing to spend more than the MLE on a powder keg like Artest.

mj_shoefanatic · Post #9 » by **mj_shoefanatic** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:39 pm

Artest and Brand played AAU together back in the day. So why not holla at him this offseason.

Post #10 » by **thanumba2clippersfan** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:41 pm

At this point I wouldn't want Artest on our team because of his baggage and we don't need to add another SF like that to our team. If it's some one to fill out the roster than that's fine but Artest would be looking to start. Thornton and Artest couldn't start together and neither of them could play SG.