Sekou Smith of the Indianapolis Star reports that the Pacers? Jeff Foster did not want to test the free agent market. He signed a six-year contract extension with Indiana yesterday.

"I didn't want to go anywhere else," said Foster. "This is the best organization I've seen in the NBA, the best arena, the best fans. We've got a great bunch of guys here, a great bunch of talent and I couldn't see myself anywhere else."

"Hopefully, I'm here for the remainder of my career," said Foster, who played in all 82 games last season, averaging 5.7 points and 6.8 rebounds. "This is the team that drafted me and they showed a lot of confidence in me and I appreciate that."

Pacers president Donny Walsh is now working on extensions for Ron Artest and Jonathan Bender. Walsh said he's hopeful that deals can be finalized before Thursday's 6 p.m. deadline. Without extensions, Artest and Bender become restricted free agents after this season. The Pacers would have right of first refusal if offers are received from other teams.

Bender said he?s confident a deal will be done.

Artest?s deal isn?t done yet, but the team is talking with his agent, Mark Bartelstein. "We've been working on it for quite some time now," Bartelstein said of an extension for his client. "Ron loves it here. He loves playing for Isiah (Thomas). And Donnie and the organization has been great to him. So this would be a place he could certainly see making his home for long time. But we have to come up with a deal that makes sense for Ron and for the Pacers. We'll see what happens over the next 48 hours."