INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers have agreed to trade Ron Artest to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Peja Stojakovic, ESPN's Jim Gray has confirmed Tuesday.
By late Tuesday afternoon, Stojakovic was awaiting confirmation of the deal.
He told ESPN.com's Marc Stein, "I don't think it's official yet, but it will be."
The deal closes a chapter in the Pacers' latest drama involving the volatile star forward.
Kings owners Gavin and Joe Maloof on ESPNEWS would not comment directly on ESPN's report that the Kings, pending league approval, will trade Peja Stojakovic to the Pacers for Ron Artest. "We're awaiting final word," said David Bauman, Stojakovic's agent. Stojakovic was told to stay behind as the Kings were departing their team hotel for a game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Artest was a key component to a team that was expected to challenge for the Eastern Conference crown. He led the league in steals and was the Pacers' second-leading scorer at 19.4 points a game before being deactivated after publicly requesting a trade in early December.
In five years with the Pacers, Artest was an All-Star once and was the NBA's defensive player of the year in 2003-04.
Pacers GM Larry Bird said the Pacers had been interested in Corey Maggette of the Los Angeles Clippers, but there was "no question" that Maggette's sprained left foot affected the process. Maggette averaged 21.7 points in 13 games before getting injured in early December.
The Pacers have lost four of their last five games, including Monday to the Atlanta Hawks, who have the NBA's worst record.
I think the Pacers lost quite a bit in this deal as far as when you compare player to player but in the overall its probably not a bad deal.
I really think Artest will do well with the Kings. He has a very good shot at becoming the focal point of that offense and there isn't a better on the ball defender in the league. Definately what the Kings needed.
Also we get to see more Kobe vs Artest matchups hopefully.
Trades already off, Kings backed out because artest said he wouldn't play there. The guy demands a trade and then rejects a trade. He obviously just doesnt want to play basketball.
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What a idiot. He deserves to be banned from the league. I wish he was a member on this board so Cash could whip out bertha and ban that punk. At least he'd be banned somewhere.
Man, an Artest for Peja deal has been talked about a little bit here, I always thought it would be good... but then Artest had to go screw it up.
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