Ron Artest in Los Angeles?: Lakers Midsummer Report

There hasn't been much chatter coming out of the Lakers' front office this offseason. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the team isn't up to anything.

Ronny Turiaf will probably become a member of the Golden State Warriors before the week is over. That isn't such a bad thing if the team, as rumor has it, is interested in bringing in Ron Artest.

Since the Kings are in no rush to trade Artest, the only way to make them an offer they instantly can't refuse is by taking on the remaining two years of Kenny Thomas' contract.

Thomas is due a little less than $17 million over the next two seasons. That's a lot of money to give a guy that's missed 79 games over the last two years—especially when it wasn't injuries that kept him out of most of those games.

What does that say about a guy when he can't make the active roster on a team that finished with the fifth-worst record in the Western Conference?

The question for the Lakers now is whether or not they can move another contract along with Lamar Odom's so that they won't have to pay a luxury tax dollar for every dollar on Thomas' contract.

Why would the Kings trade with one of their rivals, especially one within their division? Because if the Lakers were to take back Thomas' contract, the Kings would be one of the biggest spenders amongst next year's free agent class. They'd have double-digit millions to spend. If they can convince Shareef Abdur-Rahim to retire, his contract would come off of their cap next season as well, making them even bigger players.

The Lakers' roster can be divided up into three sub-divisions: guys they won't trade, guys they can't trade, and guys they don't want to trade but might just have to trade.

We know the guys they won't trade: Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Derek Fisher. The only reason Fisher is on the list is because you can't trade a guy that came to town for less money just so he could get adequate health care for his daughter. With little depth at point guard, they'd also be dumb to trade him, because it would open up another hole for them to fill.

The guys they can't trade list is made up of guys that nobody wants either because of lack of talent, a horrible contract, or both. We're talking about Vladimir Radmanovic and Luke Walton.

The last list, or the guys they don't want to trade but just might have to, is made up of Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, and Sasha Vujacic.

I know Sasha Vujacic is a free agent. But what the first few weeks of free agency have taught us is that it doesn't look like anyone will sign Vujacic for much more than the Lakers' qualifying offer of $2.6 million. If he signs an offer sheet for anything close to that the Lakers will probably match it, but at this point it looks like Vujacic might be better off taking the qualifying offer and becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer.

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