UPDATE: It looks like Yahoo is also saying that the Lakers are front runners and Thomas’s contract is the only hold up. This trade could be closer to going down than we all think:
SI.com: The Lakers — who have dangled Lamar Odom — continue to be regarded as the favorites, with their willingness to swallow the remaining two years and $16.5 million of Kenny Thomas’s contract considered the only holdup.
Interesting little update from Hoopsworld. It seems all the teams interested in Artest will have to take on Thomas’s contract as well to land the former All-Star and DPOY. This is the holdup some will argue. Check it out:
Hoopsworld: The most likely destination mentioned for Artest according to league sources continues to be the Los Angeles Lakers. And if Thomas is ready to go, he could slide into the vacancy left by Ronny Turiaf if the Lakers opt not to match Golden State’s offer sheet.
A trade to the Lakers isn’t anywhere close to being a done deal yet, but it does appear both Artest and Thomas will be playing together in a city other than Sacramento next season.
ESPN: Artest wants to play out final season of contract with Kings
Kings willing to trade Artest & Bibby when value goes up
Lakers looking at Kurt Thomas IF they lose Turiaf?
Artest considering opt-out? To Lakers?
Ron Artest update: More trade, name, agent news!
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Go Lakers Boston Sucks!!!FYI Lakers aren’t getting artest,but marion!!!
damn, i just want ron ron
Im all for Artest, but taking in Thomas’s contract, Im not sure.
But hey, Im still all for this trade.
Thomas is still a very productive player and I would welcome him with open arms if this happened!
Bill Bill Bill!!! Bill Nye!!
We want Artest Over marion!!!!
We give them a bad contract too theN
Eye for an Eye.
Or we do a 3 way with chicago or Miami involved with Sac towN
well as bad as thomas contract is if ronny leaves we gonna need him….. but i like a 3 team trade.
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=25~849~617~2184~510&teams=13~14~14~13~23&te=&cash=
i hope somethin like that so all parties are happy…
i dont mind taking kenny thomas’ contract, he’s not going to be a starter and artest will fill the final gap needed to be a good team..in two years, we drop thomas and go after a better free agent
artest even with thomas is a better fit for us than marion i think
i just hope he can play a full freakin season with us
i just looked into some stats and it turns out that before this year he was a pretty productive player, its a longshot but maybe he could provide minimal help off the bench idk, but i doubt it
hey if not he can collect dust on the bench and we can win a championship without him
honestly i think marion would fit in better, however we would never be able to resign marion after this season…i seriously just want this trade to happen soon
this is good because if we get ron ron we will be able to get shawn marion, maimi wants ron ron
how bout taking him, playing him this year, and next year he will have an expiring contract of about 9 mil, just like kwame last season, so he would be a good trade bait…
Other than taking Kenny Thomas’ contract, which would take salary cap space, another caveat would be extending Artest’s contract beyond next year. If Artest is traded to the Lakers (or anywhere else for that matter), he will be an unrestricted free agent after next year (unless it’s a sign and trade).
Assuming there is no sign and trade, Artest would be an unrestricted free agent next year, Bynum would be a restricted free agent (unless he’s signed to a longer extension by October 30) and Ariza would be a free agent. With Bynum most likely getting a double-digt salary that would hit the books staring in the 09/10 season, then the Lakers might not be able to offer Artest a lucrative contract extension, which means he may not return for the 09/10 season, thus the Lakers would have only rented him for a year.
Unfortunately, because of the lack of cap space, acquiring Artest and extending him beyond next year would be expensive.
yo thats true
The guy who wrote this article for the sac. bee is the same guy who has written every article concerning artest trade rumors. Maybe Maloof is feeding him these things and I have no doubt that they want to trade Artest with Thomas. No such attitude exists on the lakers side so this whole trade scenario could be strictly on the Sactown side and not with the Laker side. So as usual Artest Lovers get ready to be disappointed as you have so often become accustomed to.
wow the clippers just got marcus camby for absolutely nothing… Im happy for them.
Artest for Vice Prez with Obama!
Is it done yet? Still speculating. Boring. Just grant Bill his wish then we all can move on about our summer. OK Maloof, its your call. Bill for V-lady and Mihm, also, we throw Fluke in for free. Lets make it happen.
Good pickup for Clips fan! Camby is a cool dude.
get artest let him tutor ariza and let him go, and ariza will be trev-trev
i still like my trade i came up with up there only question is if miami wants to take kenny thomas contract to get rid of marion and get LO… come onn it all works all sides just accept the deal.. but it sure looks like LO is gonna get traded.. now can we throw in vlad or luke?>??? and DEAL we have artest and thomas(dont really want him but he a vet)
yea where is the yahoo article you guys are talking about?
I say don’t do it. Odom has a huge expiring contract, and the Lakers will need him to take a pay cut to pay Bynum. Odom can more than replace Turiaf’s minutes off the bench. I think we should give Ariza a chance to prove himself as well.
LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love Odom and hopefuuly Lakers can sign him next season.
I STILL THINK WE SHOULD KEEP LAMAR ODOM…JUST TO SEE HIM PLAY WITH BYNUM/GASOL…
WE HAVE THE TALLEST LINE-UP!!!
THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!
big mistake
ain’t going to happen.
I AGREE..KEEP LO ..N TRADE WALTON N MIHM FOR ARTEST
if artest gets a ring….he will probably like the taste of it and want to stick around fer a couple of years……i smell a DYNASTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh man i’m getting a woody!!!! If Ron Ron comes i will shoot like a porn star!!!!!!!
I’m confused!
cause some people are saying this trade would be a BAD move for the Lakers and some are saying it wouldl be GOOD???? That’s why…..I Confused! Can we get a Coach (experience person) to give us his opinion on this so call soon and not to be Trade????
Sincerely,
Help!Confused?
Kenny Thomas is a chump. He’s worse than Vlade and Luke combined. He will not replace Turiaf. Artest does not know the triangle offense and will take time to learn it. A guy like Marion may pick it up quickly, but I doubt that Artest will even play within the triangle. It’s a huge gamble. Teams that are on the bubble should gamble, not front runners. It’s like holding a full house and dumping one of the pair to try and get a four of a kind. Let’s just keep Lamar and see how things turn out. If things aren’t working out, they can still trade him before the trade deadline.
contrary to what a few think, i do indeed believe artest will go with the rules of the triangle..it’ll take him some time, but i think he’ll get the hang of it..esp bcuz it recquires him taking a lot of three point shots and long distance twos (like what vlad was meant to do this year)..and as far as attitude, when a person sees there are ppl with more attitude and accomplishments (kobe, phil), they end up showing deference
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=25~3000~849~549~617~70~3196~3218&teams=13~14~14~14~23~13~23~23&te=&cash=
How about this trade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fred A., not bad for Kings and Lakers, but no way Heat would take Kenny Thomas.
I’m actually having second thoughts on Artest. Guys, he can cancer and mess up the team chemistry.
Would that be a Messiah/Satan ticket?
I find it amusing that all the rumors that happen for us has a time limit.
Exhibit A: Gasol
http://chrisvernon.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-02-06T08%3A56%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20
This was on Jan. 31. Bam, happened on Feb 1.
Exhibit B: Ariza
http://www.clublakers.com/forums/trevor-ariza-traded-to-lakers-for-cook-and-evans-t84365.html
A fraking forum “insider” actually got one right!! Look at all the posts in the beginning thinking its fake. I thought so too. What were the chances after the number of BS insiders that appeared over the years?
Exhibit C: http://forums.lakersground.net/viewtopic.php?t=4228
Took awhile before it really got confirmed. Look at some of the posts hoping it was a smokescreen, ha!
—
So for those who said that Mitch deals are not leaked before they happened, that would actually be a false statement.
In actuality, it’s like a day or less.
—
None of that has happened with our current rumors.
Are there any teams with salary cap space left that the Lakers could dump either Walton or Vlade or both like Denver did with Camby?
Still need another PG,http://youtube.com/watch?v=mfwqTLxH7Yw!
that’s quite a research you have there!
the thread about ariza was funny! :))
lol, and someone even posted that “kwame = j,o’neal” funny sh*t!
and oh, getartest!
I dunno …
Did someone say that Thomas was still a productive player? Umm obviously you have no idea what you are talking about. He had a PER of 2.59. For comparison, Chris Mihm had a PER of 7.73. Yeah Thomas is still productive. He is about as productive as I would be.
Thomas is a deal breaker. But I don’t think its a good idea anyways. Artest is not a winner. Sure he is good when he wants to be, but any player that says he needs a coach to motivate him is not a winner. He single handedly set Indiana back for 10 years (at least). If he was interested in winning he would have stayed in Indiana longer. Bad idea.
We want Marion over Artest.
denver. they have the clipper’s 10mil. exception. but that will NOT happen. they’d probably use the exception to resign players or get a cheaper big.
Kenny Thomas’s contract over 2 yrs is the same as Turiaf offer over 4 yrs. Remember, Thomas used to be a player in Philly. He’s just not fitting into Theus’s plans. He’s young, and may still have more game than people think. DO IT!
We really don’t need eithe of these guys. We need to bring Turiaf back, let Sasha go, get Posey.
We were two games away from winning it all. Artest will screw it up. And anyone who says “well Phil Jackson had dealt with Rodman” is hitting the bong. Rodman was a basket case off court but on the court he was a rebounding lunatic that just “wanted” it. Plus Jordan was there to keep him in check. Will Kobe do that with Artest? Hell no, Artest will {Profanity isn't allowed on theLakersNation.com -- Please go back and edit your comment. Thank you.} slap him.
PG is needed,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Bia6qDgeQeI
Why we don’t need Artest or Marion(for right now,wait ’til next season),
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCDVO9TojsM&feature=related
Time to Trade Vlad!
The end justifies the means. The end ofcourse is Artest! Part of the means which is Kenny can still contribute off the bench for the team and the overall result will be better than what Lakers could get from Lamar. It seems that Lamar does not function in high pressure moments and keeping him around does not help both parties. Peace out!
Meanwhile, both Luke and Vlad better get their act together and bring it on for upcoming season, otherwise they will incur the wrath of both the fans and the organization for failure to produce!My advice to both players: mediocrity is nothing but a state of mind if you constantly fail to work on your weak points while hoping on team play to cover your inadequacies! It becomes glaring as the season wears on and you begin to look odd and incompetent!Luke: practice on your jump shots 24/7. Vlad: look up the word ‘concentration’ in the dictionary b/4 every game. Peace out!
We pray for mediocrity, much better than below average…
How about this trade??
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=1998~3024~3251~1016~2792&teams=15~13~15~19~13&te=&cash=
L.a/Orlando/Milwaukee
Status?
I think the NBA should get rid of the salary cap and luxury tax. To make it more equitable for small market teams, they should have a revenue sharing system(although I guess the luxury tax is a form of revenue sharing) and make it easier for teams to hold on to their free agents by having all free agents restricted so that teams can hold on to their stars. This would also make draft picks super important. Trading during the season should be banned so that teams don’t dump players if they know they won’t make the playoffs.
everything you just said made less sence ten george w, bush during a press confrence
that’s the worst idea i’ve ever heard.
lskerfan567 and D Lo, I knew I wuz goin to get slammed for that post. I still think it’s crazy enough to work though.
no dude! you’re wrong, 20 mill for Camby is way too much! i dont care if he was the defensive player of the league 2 seasons ago!!!
Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I think the NBA should get rid of the salary cap and luxury tax. To make it more equitable for small market teams, they should have a revenue sharing system(although I guess the luxury tax is a form of revenue sharing) and make it easier for teams to hold on to their free agents by having all free agents restricted so that teams can hold on to their stars. This would also make draft picks super important. Trading during the season should be banned so that teams don’t dump players if they know they won’t make the playoffs.
???this is the stupidst comment ive ever heard…..wtf????????
Miguel S,BRILLIANT!!
How about all one year contracts for all players so if a player sucks one year, like Luke and Vlade, you pay them less the next year. If they don’t want what the Lakers are offering, they leave. On the flip side, if a player plays well and a team doesn’t want to pay him what he’s worth, he can leave. Again, no salary cap.
Or how about abolishing the draft and letting college players go to the highest bidder. Also paying college players and forcing them to play at least 3 years in college.