Artest should be wearing a dunce's cap

[campybatman]

Can you say, backfired. It isn't like he was short of suitors this summer. The interest in him was there. I believe he painted himself into a corner by making his opinion and decision prematurely. His comments arose in the media well before the deadline when players needed to annouce their intention to their team that they'll be opting out. I honestly thought that he would. I wonder if that bad advice or "misleading information" is a dig at his agent.

"I don't see myself with [the] Kings beyond 2008-09.

"I think I made the biggest mistake by staying in my contract and I have to live with it," Artest said. "I had some misleading information [in making the] decision on not opting out.

Artest let his opportunity to become a free agent pass Monday as he had been vowing to do for weeks. The 28-year-old preferred to put off free agency until next summer, figuring that he'd likely only generate contract offers this summer starting at the mid-level exception -- which was $5.4 million last season -- and believing that a big 2008-09 season would increase his chances of securing a long-term deal from either the Kings or someone else.

Before announcing his decision, Artest said last week: "Even if I was to opt out, which probably won't happen, I will never accept a mid-level exception. So people trying to figure out possibilities should get that out of their heads."

But by declining to walk away from the final year of his current contract -- and thus surrendering the right to choose a new team -- Artest might actually have increased the likelihood that he winds up playing elsewhere between now and next February's trading deadline.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3469895