With the terrible news of Yao Ming's injury, does Ron Artest decide to leave now?

No Yao, and Tracy McGrady will probably be traded so if you look at the team its Artest, Brooks, and Battier leading it. That is not enough fire power to win a championship, nor does it even make them reach the playoffs out west.

Artest is an unrestricted free agent, so he has the final say of where he wants to go. He might accept the Mid Level just to play with a championship contender, or sign with a team that think he's the missing piece to put them to the top.

But it really depends on what Houston does this offseason. They need to get another post threat with no big man with Mutombo retiring and Yao out. That can get accomplished though by trading McGrady, or even Brooks.They will also need to get two good rotation players from their MLE, or even try to get a star player that is willing to take the MLE to play with them.

I do feel that Yao's injury does affect Artest on whether to stay, but I also feel that Houston will be able to put a team together this offseason to build around Artest which will make him stay with the Rockets