Kings Cope With Latest Distraction

Mar 06, 12:41 AM

Current Headlines: SACRAMENTO, Calif. _ The buzz regarding Las Vegas and all the hypothetical talk of the Kings' exodus from Sacramento had quieted once All-Star weekend passed. The off-court troubles of coach Eric Musselman were behind them, too. The dog saga at Ron Artest's home was old material.

And not only had the negative Kings news seemed to end, the team was vying for a playoff spot and its youngest star, Kevin Martin, became the first Kings player in two years to be named Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday.

Not so fast.

Artest's arrest on a domestic violence charge led to his indefinite removal from the team and served as the latest and potentially most serious incident in a season already filled with disruptions. And after hearing from Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie in the morning that Artest would not take part in team activities for an undetermined period of time, Artest's teammates and coach Eric Musselman were left to ponder the playoff push without their small forward.

"When I heard, I think I was more hoping that it's not what people think it is," said swingman John Salmons, who had not spoken to Artest since the incident. "You never know what goes on in people's homes. ... There's no judging, none of that going on.

"We're just being as supportive as possible."

Small forward Corliss Williamson said the team's decision to remove Artest was the right one for his teammate.

"He needs all his focus and attention on his situation at home and not to have basketball," Williamson said. "At the end of the day, when you put the ball down, the most important thing in life is your home. It's a situation he has to deal with."

According to Musselman, Salmons will start in Artest's absence.

"Ron has been playing at an all-league level lately, so a player of (his) caliber is tough to replace," Musselman wrote in an e-mail. "Our guys have responded very well during our recent successes, and we expect them to play with the same level of effort and intensity (tonight) vs. Indiana."

They have had trial runs, going 4-4 in games without Artest this season. He missed four games because of a back injury, three with knee soreness and a Feb. 25 game at Indiana from which he left the team to fly from Chicago to New York and deal with "family issues," he told The Bee then.

Whether these issues might have cost him the season remains to be seen, as Petrie said there is "no time set" on the length of what the team deemed an excusal with pay, and he will be arraigned March 22. There is no immediate gauge on how this shifts the team's offseason plans.

The incident inevitably will lower Artest's trade value, and his troubles might shift the Kings' priorities after they tried so hard to trade Mike Bibby before the recent trade deadline. Artest was on the trading block earlier this season, yet the Kings appeared to be content with him as his play improved.

Artest has one season left on his contract that will pay him $7.8 million, with a player option for the 2008-09 season that, if exercised, would pay him $8.45 million.

When injuries or personal reasons didn't take him away from the floor, Artest had been playing his best basketball of the season. He averaged 22.4 points per game in February, with the Kings improving slightly while winning seven of 13 games in the month. Artest's solid play continued last weekend when he scored 19 and 23 points, respectively, in victories over the Los Angeles Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers.

The can't-miss irony is in tonight's opponent, as the Indiana Pacers know all too well the player who remains known as the league's most controversial.

"I hadn't heard of anything that was really bad, let's put it that way." said Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh contacted in his downtown Sacramento hotel room. "I felt like he wouldn't have a big incident. I was thinking related to basketball, because that's what we had with Ronnie."

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