The Lakers have called the Sacramento Kings about swapping Lamar Odom for Ron Artest, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee. Their salaries don’t match up, so the Kings would have to throw in a player to make the deal work under the league’s rules.
Odom will make roughly $14 million in the final year of his deal and Artest will make $7.4 million in the final year of his. The Bee’s story indicated the Kings would want the Lakers to take Kenny Thomas and the $18 milliion he is owed over the next two years.
As mentioned in a previous post, the Lakers could use someone with the muscle of Artest. They were punished repeatedly by more physical teams during the playoffs, especially during their loss in the Finals to the Boston Celtics.
Artest comes with his share of baggage, no doubt about it, but it would be interesting (and entertaining) to see him paired with Lakers coach Phil Jackson.