Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register is reporting that former Sacramento King forward Metta World Peace née Ron Artest will be amnestied by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Just last week, Pete D'Alessandro was talking about how the Kings might look for a veteran to come man the Small Forward spot for a year or two after the team gave up their pursuit of Andre Iguodala.
Metta World Peace coming onto the market might be the perfect solution for Sacramento. His contract is for just one year, meaning that should the Kings bid on him and win, he will only be under contract for next season. He's also, despite being past his prime, still a very good defender as well as a decent spot-up shooter.
The Kings have about $5.9 million in cap space to spend now after the trade of Tyreke Evans and signing of Carl Landry. I wouldn't mind at least spending a chunk of that to bring Ron-Ron back to Sacramento for a year. Sure, he's crazy, but dammit, he's better than what we have now and I'd rather have him on the team for one year than Monta Ellis on the team for four or more. He actually fits a need and will allow us to keep future flexibility.
The Kings are almost completely different since Ron-Ron was last in Sacramento, but if there's one person the front office can go to for advice on whether he might be a good pickup, it'd be Assistant GM Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Abdur-Rahim played with Artest in each of the three seasons he was in Sacramento.
Per Larry Coon's CBA FAQ, the minimum possible bid would be $1,399,507. That calculation is derived from the minimum salary for a 10+ year vet * the number of years left on the contract (in this case, just one).
So what do you think? Am I crazy?