News

Sacramento Calls Off Artest Trade
Jan. 25, 2006

CLEVELAND (AP) - The Ron Artest trade to Sacramento is off - for now.

The Pacers had reportedly agreed to ship the volatile forward to the Sacramento Kings for Peja Stojakovic, but Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said Tuesday night that no deal was imminent.
"There is no trade right now and there may not be a trade," Carlisle said before Indiana played the Cavaliers in Cleveland. "There's nothing to talk about because there is no trade."

ESPN and The Indianapolis Star had reported earlier Tuesday that the teams had agreed to the trade, which was merely awaiting league approval. But Carlisle shot down that report.

"Anything involving speculation and 'what's up' can be saved for another time," Carlisle said. "If there is a trade at some point, you'll hear about it."

Artest confirmed to the Star that the deal had collapsed, but left open the possibility that something could still happen.

"There's no deal," Artest told the newspaper by telephone. "It's not that I don't want to play there ... I'm letting my agent handle things. He's taken over things."

Artest's agent, Mark Stevens, had told The Associated Press earlier Tuesday that a deal to move Artest "is imminent, almost as soon as possible." After the trade apparently collapsed, he did not return phone calls from the AP.

The deal would have ended a lengthy standoff between the Pacers and Artest, who was deactivated in December after requesting a trade and was suspended most of last season for his role in one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history.

Sacramento officials and coach Rick Adelman would not comment before the team played at Philadelphia on Tuesday night, and Stojakovic was not at the arena with the team. He was listed on the active roster but was nowhere to be seen at tipoff.

"He's got to be a little confused right now if they wanted to trade him," Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said of Stojakovic, who had traveled with the team but stayed behind at the hotel.

Before the deal apparently broke down, Kings players were already talking about the trade as if it was a done deal.

"Peja will be missed," Kings forward Corliss Williamson said. "He's been in Sacramento for a lot of years, but life goes on in the NBA.

"We'll welcome Ron Artest with open arms and hope he'll be able to help us. You always hear about the situations he's been in and all the hype. Maybe this is the change he needs, to come into our system and flourish."

Instead, the Pacers are still looking for a place to send Artest.