Did a competing team try to sabotage the Pacers' Ron Artest deal with the Kings for Peja Stojakovic?

The Pacers can't prove it, but they have a sense - and sources maintain they may be onto something - that one of the teams that was trying hardest to pry Artest from Indiana tried to convince the Kings that Artest wouldn't be happy in Sacramento. But the Kings went ahead with the deal after talking to Artest on Wednesday.

"I felt it, but I didn't know it," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said.

Ron Artest made nice with his new team. He managed to avoid any conflict with the Boston fans.

For a debut, the Sacramento Kings are going to have to consider it a success.

The former Indiana troublemaker scored 15 points in his first game since his antics got him benched in mid-December, but he and the Kings faltered in the fourth quarter on Friday night as the Celtics beat Sacramento 84-74.

"He was well-rested because he's been off for a month now," Celtics center Kendrick Perkins said. "So he got off to a great start but we knew he wasn't in NBA shape so he wore down in the end."

The Celtics had a big debut of their own: Wally Szczerbiak scored 10 points in 24 minutes in his first game since being acquired from Minnesota in a seven-player deal. Szczerbiak arrived at the arena just before the game and wasn't expected to play; he had the wrong color shoes and only put on a uniform, basketball boss Danny Ainge said, because he didn't have a suit that would meet the NBA's dress code.

He finished 4-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range, and added three rebounds and a pair of assists.

"He hit some big shots. Helped them win," Artest said. "I can imagine what he was going through. It must have been more intense for him, because it happened so suddenly."

The Sacramento Kings have confirmed that Ron Artest will wear 93 for the club.

He wore 15 in Chicago and wore 23, 91 and 15 in Indiana.

It's done. Final. Official. Approved.

Really.

After a 24-hour microcosm of their four-year experience with the on-again, off-again Ron Artest, the Pacers completed a deal sending the talented but controversial forward to Sacramento in exchange for Peja Stojakovic, one of the most prolific shooters in the game.

"Obviously, we're very happy about getting a player of his caliber," said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. "He's one of the best shooters in the league and we definitely feel he can come in and help us right away. We think he'll fit in with our team because he'll help spread the floor and give our big men better opportunities to score."

Stojakovic, 28, is averaging 16.5 points and 5.3 rebounds and shooting 39.7 percent from the 3-point line this season. Artest, 26, was averaging 19.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.63 steals in 16 starts with the Pacers before making a public trade demand in early December, prompting the club to place him on the inactive list.

"We wish Ron the best at Sacramento," said Pacers CEO and President Donnie Walsh. "There's no doubt in our mind he'll have an immediate impact on their team. We'll miss him very much. We know this has been a long process for our fans, but we have a player we think our fans will enjoy watching."

The teams appeared to have a deal struck Tuesday but, just before a conference call with the NBA that would've finalized the trade, Artest's agent told the Kings his client did not want to play in Sacramento. That appeared to kill the trade, but Artest met with Walsh and Bird in their Conseco Fieldhouse offices Wednesday morning and clarified his intentions.

"I'm willing to play anywhere," Artest told Indianapolis television station WTHR. "I'm not going to be some hard guy to deal with and say I don't want to play there, you know? ? It was a good conversation. It was a little bit emotional, just to think what you've been through with Donnie Walsh, who's such a personable person. He treats everybody like family. It was a tough day, but we both left on good terms, which is pretty cool."

Artest then spoke with Kings ownership and management, allaying their concerns about the deal.

"Peja's just been a great, great player here," said Geoff Petrie, the Kings' President of Basketball Operations. "We've seen him develop from a rookie into a three-time All-Star. He's been a total professional. We certainly wish him the very best with Indiana. He'll always be a favorite member of the Kings organization.

"Ron Artest is going to bring a dimension to this team that we haven't had in a long time, maybe since I've been in Sacramento, in terms of his defensive abilities, his presence on the court, his versatility, his size and strength. Given where we are at this point of the season, we think he'll come in here and really make an impact."

The trade that almost wasn't is on the verge of happening again. The Kings and Pacers have both signed off on a deal that will send Ron Artest to Sacramento and Peja Stojakovic to Indiana, sources told ESPN's Jim Gray. The trade is now only pending league approval.

Artest met Wednesday with Indiana Pacers officials to discuss a possible trade to the Sacramento Kings after a deal for Stojakovic collapsed on Tuesday night.

"They said they were going to try to get something sorted out to get the trade done," Artest told the Indianapolis Star by phone as he drove away from the meeting at Conseco Fieldhouse. Artest told the Star it was a good meeting, but that there was "no trade right now."

However, ESPN's Gray and Stephen A. Smith reported Wednesday after the meeting that Artest has agreed to be traded. Gray reported that Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof talked to Artest and planned to talk to him again before finalizing any trade.

Ron Artest has been summoned to a Wednesday morning meeting by the Indiana Pacers, who want to hear from the player himself on whether he is standing in the way of a trade to the Sacramento Kings for Peja Stojakovic, ESPN.com learned Tuesday night.  

Artest and his agent were expected to meet Wednesday morning in Indianapolis with team executives Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh with the hopes the trade can be revived.

The Pacers and Kings were close to a deal Tuesday, and Stojakovic stayed at the team hotel in Philadelphia when it appeared the trade would be finalized. But a source with inner knowledge of the day's events said a call from Artest's agent, Mark Stevens, to the Kings gave them second thoughts about pulling the trigger, and the deal was temporarily shelved.

"The way I was treated today, I was disappointed," Stojakovic told ESPN.com in Philadelphia. "I feel kind of disrespected with the way I found out. Thank God they have TVs here. I understand being traded, but this is situation is weird. I had already planned my flight back to Sacramento, and now everything is reversed.

"I guess this is just a business, but the way I was told and the way I found out, I feel I deserved better from [Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof]. Anybody can get traded in the NBA, but the way I found out, it was disrespectful. I deserve better after seven and a half years."

Stojakovic was expected to travel to New York with the Kings for their game Wednesday night against the Knicks, but there remained a possibility the trade would be revived in the morning. Artest told The Indianapolis Star there was a possibility something still could 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 told the Star he is not against a trade but would like to be involved in negotiations.

"I just want to meet with team officials of whichever team I'm headed to," he said in a story posted on the newspaper's Web site. "I want to play, but I'm following the rules I have to follow. If I have to sit out, I sit out the season."

The deal would have ended a lengthy standoff between the Pacers and Artest, who was banished from the team 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.

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."

Ron Artest;  Pacer? King?  Pacer?  King?

Reports are now coming out that Ron Artest could still approve a deal that would send him to the Sacramento Kings, which was first reported Tuesday afternoon.

Mark Stevens, Artest's agent, reportedly told the Kings his client "had no desire" to play for Sacramento, that he would report but "not be happy."

A tentative agreement for a trade that would have sent the Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Peja Stojakovic has been rejected, ESPN's Jim Gray reported Tuesday.

Gray reported earlier Tuesday that both teams had agreed to the trade, pending league approval. Then, according to Gray, Artest informed both teams he did not want to go to the Kings. In light of that, Gray reported, the Kings have decided to reject the trade.

Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said Tuesday night that the trade wasn't going to happen.

"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."

"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."

Pacers CEO/President Donnie Walsh issued a statement Tuesday echoing Carlisle's remarks.

"As I have said before, until there is a deal completed, we do not have a deal," the statement said. "We do not have a deal and will not comment on any premature reports regarding a trade involving Ron Artest."

The Indiana Pacers have agreed to trade Ron Artest to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Peja Stojakovic pending league approval, ESPN's Jim Gray has confirmed Tuesday.

The deal closes a chapter in the Pacers' latest drama involving the volatile star forward.

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.

The Indiana Pacers are closer to dealing Ron Artest and getting a player to help their struggling team.

"We're closer than we were," Indiana president of basketball operations Larry Bird said Tuesday. "To say we're going to do something today, well, that's not going to happen."

Artest's agent, Mark Stevens, said "a deal is imminent, almost as soon as possible."

A deal with Sacramento is potentially on the horizon, according to the New York Post, which is reporting that Peja Stojakovic could be dealt for Artest.