Kings' forward Ron Artest has continued to lament his decision to pass on the chance to become a free agent and is now hoping that he will be traded to a team more committed to him, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein.
The Lakers are the early favorites to land Artest, especially after rumors of an Artest-for-Lamar Odom deal between Los Angeles and Sacramento surfaced last week.
Ron is disappointed that the Kings haven't shown more interest in giving him a long-term deal.
"It's weird because [the] Maloofs [were] high on me [after] the initial trade," Artest said, referring to the January 2006 deal that brought him from the Pacers to the Kings. "But during this opt-out time in my career I have not heard from them. That should have been a sign to me that my future in [Sacramento] is N/A or undetermined."
"In a way I wish this [coming 2008-09 season] would have been [Reggie Theus'] first year, and [Rick Adelman] would have left this summer because it could have showed how much [of] a winner I am. Guys like Adelman and Rick Carlisle [brought] that out of me. Isiah [Thomas] was going to bring that out of me if he didn't get fired [by the Knicks]. A coach like Phil Jackson can bring that out me."