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Artest Making Trade Demands

This was supposed to be the year of Indiana. You would expect that now that they have Artest back they?ll be able to put all the brawl stuff behind them and focus on basketball. However, things haven?t run smoothly for the Pacers thus far. Despite opening last week with two straight losses one on the road at Seattle and the other at home versus the Mavs, the Pacers pulled it together to beat both the Wizards and Memphis. Just when it seemed that things are picking up for the Pacers, Artest has yet again found a way to distract the team.

In a shocking move, Artest has apparently asked the Pacers to trade him. Ron told the media he feels he?d get a clean slate from a club trading for him, and that staying in Indiana means he has to bare the burden of the ?baggage? from last year?s incident in Detroit. The Pacers were somewhat floored when this story came out, Pacer CEO Donnie Walsh said he?s spoken with Artest every day for the past few weeks, and Ron has never mentioned this situation to him.

Rumors had surfaced last week suggesting the much hyped deal with Sacramento involving Peja Stojakovic was warming up ? despite claims from both teams that such a deal was not happening. However, Sacramento is doesn?t appear to be on his wish list. Artest mentioned the Knicks, who have more than enough pieces to trade to land Artest, and Ron mentioned the Cavaliers, were Artest said he?d be happy to come off the bench behind LeBron James.