Over the last month or so, Ron Artest has been nothing more than a frustration for his owners – both in real life and in fantasy. The situation came to head last night, as he screwed up his trade to the Kings by announcing that he didn’t want to play for them. Now, you can’t blame the Kings for pulling out of the deal when they realized he would be a problem for them. Now, the Pacers and Ron’s fantasy owners are still stuck in a situation where they are getting absolutely nothing out of a prime-time player that they made a big investment in.
So, after the latest development in the Artest situation, which way will his value go? To me, there’s one big plus and one big minus for Artest owners moving forward. Let’s look at both of them.
The Plus: Artest will not go to a place where he will simply be a role player.
There may be no sound reasoning to Artest’s decision not to play for the Kings, but now that his feelings are going to be taken into account, we know that he’ll only go into a situation where he’ll be given a chance to be a star. Apparently he didn’t feel that Sacramento was a place for that to happen. When you hear this quote from Artest – “I’m letting my agent handle things. He’s taken over things.” – what it really means is, “if I’m going to pack my bags, you’d better believe I’m going to want a contract extension.” No team is going to give Artest a big-money contract extension unless they’re ready to make him their premier player. The Kings weren’t ready to do that – and really, can you blame them? – and I’m not really sure that any team will be ready to do that either.
The Minus: This might not be over until after the season is though.
First, there was this gem from Artest: “If I have to sit out, I sit out the season.” So he doesn’t seem to have much motivation to get back on the court right now. Then there was the report that the Pacers could look to put Artest on unpaid suspension after this stunt, which would make them much less desperate to make a trade. Should Artest end up being unpaid, the Pacers may figure they’re better off waiting until the offseason where it’s easier to move big contracts. That would simply spell disaster for Artest owners, but the worst part is that the Pacers are unlikely to make an announcement to this effect.
The other concerning thing (ok, there are many here) is the deal that Artest ruined. Peja-for-Artest has been on the table for about a year now, and the fact that this was the one the Pacers finally tried to pull the trigger on means that the market out there just isn’t getting better. The only other team that’s been mentioned with any regularity in this thing is the Warriors, and that’s just not a very good match.
Both in the NBA and in fantasy leagues right now, Artest’s value is at an all-time low. Unfortunately for you fantasy owners, though, the Pacers have an option in front of them that you don’t have – the option of waiting until the end of the season is over to take care of this. Now, granted, this deal could end up going through later today or tomorrow and make this all moot, but for now, you’ve got to think pretty seriously about whether or not Artest belongs on your team right now – and what you might be able to get for him in a trade.
So does he belong on your team? That all depends. There’s no bigger risk than Artest right now. I said a few weeks ago that if you can get a solid starter for Artest, you should take it – something around a 6th round value, maybe even 8th. I’ll still stand by that statement. If you’re sitting near the bottom of your league standings, though, Artest is a great guy to target right now. You can likely get him for pennies on the dollar. It’s a total gamble. You feelin’ lucky?
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