Ron Artest to the Lakers? Fantasy Impact
July 10, 2008 by Stephen Kersey
Filed under NBA News, NFL Player Analysis
A rumor going around the NBA lately has the Sacramento Kings trading Ron Artest to the Los Angeles Lakers for a Lamar Odom. While the Lakers seem to be all for completing the deal, the Kings have been hesitant to pull the trigger.
If Artest lands on the Lakers, Los Angeles would be a lot better. Odom is a skilled player but he’s not a very physical player and he isn’t too consistent. Artest, on the other hand, is very physical and when his head is screwed on correctly, he’s a very good player.
The main reason why the Lakers would want to do the deal is because Odom will need to switch from power forward to center next year due to Andrew Bynum’s return to the lineup. Instead of having Odom switch positions, it’d be easier to get a true small forward such as Artest to replace him.
In terms of fantasy basketball, Artest may actually be hurt stat-wise by going to the Lakers. Kobe Bryant will demand a lot of shots and so will the Lakers’ bevy of scoring role players. Conversely, Odom would have to carry a lot of the weight for the Kings and thusly his stats would be even more impressive.
Watch this video which discusses the Ron Artest for Lamar Odom trade:
