CLEVELAND – Cavaliers star LeBron James says he’s flattered by Ron Artest’s comment that he wouldn’t mind playing for Cleveland if the Indiana Pacers grant his desire to be traded.
Artest, suspended most of last season for a brawl with fans in Detroit, said over the weekend that he wants to be traded because his past haunts him in Indianapolis and the team would be better off without him.
The former NBA defensive player of the year could help the Cavaliers, James said yesterday. The Cavaliers have struggled defensively this season.
“You’ve got to be flattered because he knows we’re an up and coming team,” James said. “Any team in this league could use a guy like Ron Artest.”
Pacers’ president and chief executive Donnie Walsh said yesterday that he would try to trade Artest.
Artest told The Indianapolis Star in an interview published Sunday that his first choice would be his hometown New York Knicks.
“If I go to the West Coast, I would come back to New York after my contract is up,” Artest told the newspaper. “I would go to Cleveland. I wouldn’t mind coming off the bench behind LeBron James. There’s a lot of players I wouldn’t mind coming off the bench behind.”
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was Indiana’s associate head coach for the last two seasons and was one of the first people to reach Artest in the stands during the brawl in Detroit.
Brown would say only that he had a good relationship with Artest.
“He’s with Indiana and right now, I’m happy with the guys that we have,” Brown said. “I heard something about that but there’s nothing to comment on because he’s a Pacer. If I was his head coach, I wouldn’t want anybody else commenting on my players.”
Artest leads the league in steals and is the Pacers’ second-leading scorer at 19.4 points a game.
James knows firsthand how talented Artest is.
Artest shut down James on Thanksgiving Day, limiting James to 19 points on 6-of-20 shooting in Indiana’s 98-76 victory. Artest also outplayed James on the offensive end, scoring 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
“If Michael Jordan said right now he wanted to play for the Cavs, you’d be flattered,” James said. “If Magic Johnson said it. Anytime you get a good player or a great player mention a team that you’re a part of, you’ve got to be flattered about it.”
