NBA

Pacers: Not yet on Artest trade

CLEVELAND - The Ron Artest trade to Sacramento is off - for now.

The Pacers had reportedly agreed to ship the volatile forward to the Kings for Peja Stojakovic, but Indiana coach Rick Carlisle and CEO Donnie Walsh said Tuesday night that no deal was imminent.

"There is no trade right now and there may not be a trade," Carlisle said before Indiana played the Cavaliers. "There's nothing to talk about because there is no trade."

Later, Walsh released a statement.

"As I have said before, until there is a deal completed, we do not have a deal," he said. "We ... will not comment on any premature reports regarding a trade involving Ron Artest."

ESPN and the Indianapolis Star reported earlier Tuesday that the teams had agreed to the trade, which was awaiting league approval. But Carlisle shot down that report.

Artest confirmed to the Star that the deal had collapsed, but left open the possibility that something could still happen.

"There's no deal," Artest told the newspaper by telephone. "It's not that I don't want to play (in Sacramento) ... I'm letting my agent handle things. He's taken over things."

Artest's agent, Mark Stevens, said earlier Tuesday that a deal "is imminent, almost as soon as possible." After the trade apparently collapsed, he did not return phone calls from the AP.

The deal would have ended a long standoff between the Pacers and Artest, who was deactivated in December after requesting a trade and was suspended most of last season for his role in one of the worst brawls in U.S. sports history.

Sacramento officials and coach Rick Adelman would not comment on Artest before the team played at Philadelphia on Tuesday night, and Stojakovic was not at the arena with the team. He was listed on the active roster but was nowhere to be seen at tipoff.

"He's got to be a little confused right now if they wanted to trade him," Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim said of Stojakovic, who had traveled with the team but stayed behind at the hotel.

After the game, Adelman said he didn't know whether Stojakovic would play tonight against the Knicks in New York.

"You can't expect him not to have feelings about this, but I expect him to be able to handle things," Adelman said. "It's not been an easy situation. It's not the best thing to happen when you're on a six-game road trip."

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:56:11]