Ron Artest to Finland? It Gives Laker Fans a Reason to Smile

Before you scoff at what seems like another chapter in a long string of zany exploits, let me tell you that Ron Artest is doing the right thing. 

Multiple media outlets, including Ball In Europe, report Ron Artest is about to finalize a deal to play in Finland starting in September. 

There are many questions that get drummed up from a story like this. Does this mean an end to his days in the NBA? If not, do the Lakers cut ties if he gets injured? Is he out of his mind? The answers are no, possibly and perhaps.

The NBA is headed into dark days. The outlook of the pending lockout is grim at best. Most have the CBA negotiations as worse than that of the NFL's melodrama. Some, like Charles Barkley, are fully confident that there will be no 2011-2012 NBA season in the NBA. 

If you want to see what a barren wasteland looks like in the Association, all you need is to look at the past few months in the NFL.

There may not be any football, but there is a ton of excitement to be had. There have been: nine arrests of NFL players, a soccer tryout by Chad Ochocinco, a boxing dream met by Tom Zbikowski, a mysterious ACL injury by Terrell Owens and a bull riding fiasco...by Chad Ochocinco. 

When you take hundreds of millionaires and release them into the wild, you get bedlam. Granted, it is a bedlam that makes my task of opining on their ordeal all the more fun.  

The same kind of anarchy can be expected in the NBA. There will be guys that get in trouble, and others that will pursue their passions in alternate sports. 

This is a rare opportunity for NBA players to do something other than basketball, not having the shackles of a contract and the things that come with such a thing. 

So what does the wacky and off-kilter Ron Artest do? He secures a deal to play more basketball. The man that will soon be called Metta World Peace wants nothing more than to continue to play basketball, and stay on his game. 

There are some speed bumps to such a thing occurring. Even with a lockout in place, Artest is still under contract according to FIBA, the governing body of International basketball. They will not allow a Finnish team to acquire Artest while he is signed to another. 

There is hope that the lockout may change their mind on such a thing. Sure, there is a chance that he could have a serious injury while playing basketball. 

I am confident that the rest of the players locked out will be doing things ten times more dangerous than playing basketball in their free time. I listed but a modicum of what the NFL think tank drummed up so far. 

As a Lakers observer and fan, this makes me smile. Ron Artest wears a great deal of masks. He is still a villain to some, unable to shake the images from The Palace years back. 

To others, Artest is a clown, a self-professed coo-bird. What we rarely see is a man that genuinely loves the game of basketball so much that he is choosing to use his free time to ball. 

There are not many out there that would be granted a free vacation and choose to go back to work. In fact, most of you are daydreaming about one right now.

With a lockout, Artest is free to do anything his heart desires. The fact that he is demanding to be back on the court puts a smile on my face that will last until the next NBA season.